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THE CITY'S DEVELOPMENT |
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Modern Madrid is enclosed by dreary suburbs: acres of high-rise
concrete seemingly dumped without thought onto the dustiest parts of the
plain. The great spread to suburbia was encouraged under Franco, who
also extended the city northwards along the spinal route of the Paseo de
la Castellana, to accommodate his ministers and minions during
development extravaganzas of the 1950s and 1960s. Large, impressive, and
unbelievably sterile, these constructions leave little to the
imagination; but then, you're unlikely to spend much time in these parts
of town.
In the centre, things are very different. The oldest streets at the very
heart of Madrid are crowded with ancient buildings, spreading out in
concentric circles which reveal the development of the city over the
centuries. Only the cramped street plan gives much clue as to what was
here before Madrid became the Habsburg capital (in 1561), but the narrow
alleys around the Plaza Mayor are still among the city's liveliest and
most atmospheric. Later growth owed much to the French tastes of the
Bourbon dynasty in the eighteenth century, when for the first time
Madrid began to develop a style and flavour of its own.
The early nineteenth century brought invasion and turmoil to Spain as
Napoleon established his brother Joseph on the throne. Madrid, however,
continued to flourish, gaining some very attractive buildings and
squares. With the onset of the twentieth century, the capital became the
hotbed of the political and intellectual discussions which divided the
country; tertulias (political/philosophical discussion circles) sprang
up in cafés across the city (some of them are still going) as the
country entered the turbulent years of the end of the monarchy and the
foundation of the Second Republic.
The Civil War , of course, caused untold damage, and led to forty years
of isolation, which you can still sense in Madrid's idiosyncratic style.
The Spanish capital has changed immeasurably, however, in the two and a
half decades since Franco's death, guided by a poet-mayor, the late and
much lamented Tierno Galván. His efforts - the creation of parks and
renovation of public spaces and public life - have left an enduring
legacy, and were a vital ingredient of the movida madrileńa , the
"happening Madrid", with which the city broke through in the 1980s. The
present local authorities have adopted a more restrictive attitude
towards bar and club licensing and unfortunately there has been a
tendency towards homogenization with the rest of Europe as franchised
fast-food joints and coffee bars spring up all over the place.
Nevertheless, in making the transition from provincial backwater to
major European capital, Madrid has still managed to preserve its own
stylish and quirky identity.
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