Puerta del Sol

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (June 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 5,024 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Puerta del Sol]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|es|Puerta del Sol}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The Puerta del Sol (

History

The Puerta del Sol originated as one of the gates in the city wall that surrounded Madrid in the 15th century. Outside the wall, medieval suburbs began to grow around the Christian Wall of the 12th century. The name of the gate came from the rising sun which decorated the entry, since the gate was oriented to the east.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the area was an important meeting place: as the goal for the couriers coming from abroad and other parts of Spain to the Post Office, it was visited by those eager for the latest news. The stairs to the Saint Philip church at the square were known as the Gradas de San Felipe, and were among the most prolific mentideros de la Corte (this Spanish idiom sounds as "lie-spreaders of the Court", but it is related with the verb mentar, "to say about someone", not mentir, "to lie", so it is more appropriately translated as "places of the City where people gossip").

The House of the Post Office was built by French architect

Sol has seen protests against the

Despite once being the meeting point of the six major radial roads of Spain, in 2020 the square was pedestrianized and closed to most traffic. Exceptions are made for supplies to shops, emergency services and blood donation campaigns.^[1]

Famous buildings and landmarks

The Puerta del Sol contains a number of well known sights both domestically and internationally associated with Spain. On the south side, the old

Also on its south side, the square holds a mounted statue of Charles III of Spain, nicknamed "el rey alcalde" ("the mayor-king") due to the extensive public works program he set in motion. The famous Tío Pepe lighted sign was above the square's eastern building between the Calle de Alcalá and the Carrera de San Jerónimo (Apple Store today) for a long time, now is on top of the former Paris Hotel. Also on the east side lies the statue of The Bear and the Strawberry Tree (in Spanish, el Oso y el Madroño), the heraldic symbol of Madrid. Until 2009, the statue stood on the north side at the entrance to Calle del Carmen. The Mariblanca (a female figure named for its white marble) is a copy of a statue (possibly of Venus, and so the restored pedestal claims), which marks the place of a former fountain displaying that figure.

The kilómetro cero is a plaque on the ground directly north of the Post Office serving as the symbolic center of Spain, and the point from which kilometer distances are numbered in the

Location in Madrid

The Puerta is located in the very heart of Madrid. It serves as the kilometre zero from which all radial roads in Spain are measured. This is demonstrated by a plaque on the floor of the square, marking the exact point of Km.0. This was established in 1857,^[2] setting six major radial roads, clockwise:

• Calle Montera and continuing through Calle de Fuencarral and Calle de Bravo Murillo
• N-2 (Northeastern Road) to La Jonquera, border town with France, via Zaragoza and Barcelona, starting from Calle de Alcalá
• Valencia, starting from Carrera de San Jerónimo, where the Congress of Deputies is located, and continuing through Paseo del Prado
• N-4 (Southern Road) to Córdoba, Seville and Cádiz, starting from Calle Carretas, Calle Concepción Jerónima and Calle de Toledo
• N-5 (Southwestern Road) to Badajoz, border town with Portugal, starting from Calle Mayor

• Calle Preciados, continuing through Gran Vía and Calle de la Princesa

• The old and new kilometer zero plaques
• 
• 

Immediately to the southwest lies the

The square connects several commercial and recreational areas together, and thus both it and the surrounding streets consist mainly of shopping establishments catering to locals and tourists alike, like the several El Corte Inglés department store buildings in Preciados Street, La Mallorquina cafe, and numerous, ever-changing restaurants. The area remains active late into the night and early morning since nearby bars and dance clubs often only start entertainment at 1 am. Street music is also common in the area.

Side streets close to the square also contain residential flats, some small offices, and tourist

Other events

During New Year's Eve 2018–2019, the clock of the Puerta del Sol for the first time in history rang the bells according to the schedule of the Canary Islands. After the traditional twelve strokes of midnight, the clock delayed one hour its needles to adjust to the Canary hour and also gave the chimes at the same time as this archipelago.^[3]

Gallery

• 
  Puerta del Sol in 1862
• 
  Bear and the Madroño Tree, heraldic symbol of Madrid
• 
  Night time photo of the Bear and the Madroño Tree, heraldic symbol of Madrid
• 
  A sunset, the Bear and the Madroño Tree and the Tio Pepe Neon Advertisement in the distance
• 
  Puerta del Sol, Tio Pepe Neon Advertisement photographed at Sunset
• 
  Puerta del Sol in Madrid with King Carlos III statue and Tio Pepe sign
• 
  Monument to King Charles III in front of the House of the Post Office
• 
  The Tío Pepe advertisement is a landmark
• 
  A Street artist at Puerta del Sol and the Tio Pepe Neon Advertisement photographed at Sunset.
• 
  Tio Pepe Neon Advertisement ' Puerta Del Sol ' Madrid, Spain ' photographed at Sunset in black and white.
• 
  Puerta Del Sol, Madrid Metro and the Tio Pepe Neon Advertisement at Sunset
• 
  The New Year's Eve celebrations

See also

• Fountain of the Harpies
• Fountain de La Mariblanca

References

External links

Media related to Puerta del Sol at Wikimedia Commons

40°25′01″N 3°42′13″W / 40.41694°N 3.70361°W / 40.41694; -3.70361