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Calle de Alcalá

Calle de Alcalá starts at the Puerta del Sol and runs for about 10.5 kilometres to the San Blas-Canillejas district, making it the longest street in Madrid. For centuries it was called Calle de los Olivares; it took its current name when it became the road to Alcalá de Henares. From the late 19th century, the first stretch, between Sol and Plaza de Cibeles, housed much of Spanish banking: the Banco de España, the former Banco Español de Crédito and several insurance companies set up here and built monumental headquarters, competing in height and ornament. In those first blocks you will find a 17th-century Baroque convent, a Modernista building with a golden dome from 1911, a casino founded in 1836, and banks with turrets and clocks. Walking from one stretch to another lets you follow, in a few minutes, the evolution of Madrid architecture from the Baroque to the eclecticism of the early 20th century.

Things to do at Calle de Alcalá: 5 missions

• Find Churriguera's golden altarpieceEnter the church of Las Calatravas (Alcalá 25) during opening hours and find the Churrigueresque high altarpiece, carved and gilded by José de Churriguera in the early 18th century.
• Walk the stretch from Sol to CibelesWalk the roughly 800 metres between the Puerta del Sol and Plaza de Cibeles, the most monumental stretch of the street, noticing how the height and style of the buildings change from one block to the next.
• Find the clock between the Past and the FutureOn the corner of Alcalá and Sevilla, look in the tower of the former Palacio de la Equitativa (the work of José Grases Riera, the same architect as the Palacio Longoria) for the clock flanked by two gilded bronze…
• Photograph the Winged Victory on the Metrópolis BuildingAt the junction with Gran Vía, look at the top of the golden dome of the Metrópolis Building (1911) for the sculpture of the Winged Victory by Federico Coullaut-Valera, which replaced the original bronze phoenix in the…
• Look at the Modernista wrought-iron door of the Casino de MadridOpposite number 15, without needing to go in (access is for members only), take a look at the wrought-iron main door and the floral corbels that support the balconies, clearly influenced by Modernisme.

Near Calle de Alcalá

Source: Wikipedia en español — Calle de Alcalá