windows of Madrid
I remember when we woke together in the ancient streets of Spain
I remember I felt a strong shiver which could heal any pain
when the fantastic windows whispered in my ears "hello "
I couldn't dare to reply
I thought that voice came from my fellow
so I began to spy
here, I discovered the magnificent magic
her shape took more than my likes
when I jumped like a child in the street
because I fall in love with the windows of Madrid
this romantic story escaped from the old age
and rapidly came to me and wrote its secret on my page
the beautiful windows of Madrid
inspired me to write in Casa Maria plaza mayor
it makes my soul sing for the coming light and also for
the ancient art of Spain
which could heal you entirely from suffering or pain
Casa de la Panadería ["bakery house"], Plaza Mayor, Madrid
According to Jerónimo de Quintana’s 1621 history of Madrid, Agamemnon defeated and slew the Trojan hero Bianor, whose son fled to Albania. His illegitimate grandson Ocno Bianor was exiled and founded Mantova, but in a dream the god Apollo told him to go to the land where the sun dies. After 10 years he reached the Manzanares river, and Apollo instructed him to name his new city after the earth goddess Metragirta (Cybele). In the 2nd century BCE the Romans established Matrice there. In the 2nd half of the 9th century emir Muhammad I of Qurtuba (Córdoba) built a series of fortresses on the border between Al-Andalus and the kingdoms of León and Castile in order to protect Toledo from Christian invasion and as starting points for Muslim offensives; he project included founding Mayrit (from the Arabic “Mayra,” referring to water as giver of life, plus the Ibero-Roman suffix “it” [place]). After the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba into a number of independent taifa (kingdoms) in 1031, Madrid was integrated into the taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, Christians took Madrid in 1085 as royal property. In 1561 Felipe II established his court there; in 1601 his son Felipe III “the Pious” relocated it to Valladolid until 1606, then restored it to Madrid.
ReplyDeleteThe Plaza del Arrabal was Madrid’s main market in the 15th century. It was transferred to the city’s control in 1561. Felipe II commissioned Juan de Herrera to remodel it, but work did not begin until the reign of Felipe III (whose 1616 statue by Giambologna is in the square, erected there in 1848), under the direction of his court painter Juan Gómez de Mora. Remodelling took 2 years (1617-1619). His son Juan Gómez de Mora rebuilt it again after a disastrous fire in 1631. Tomás Román rebuilt it after a 1670 fire, and Juan de Villanueva did the same after 1/3 of it was destroyed in 1790. Using the remaining portion of the Casa de la Panadería as his reference, he lowered the surrounding buildings from 5 stories to 3, closed the corners, and created 10 large entrances into the squares. Construction after his death in 1811 was continued by Antonio López Aguado and Custodio Moreno, who finished it in 1854. After the 1812 constitution, all major plazas in Spain were renamed “Plaza de la Constitución." But the square became the Plaza Real when the Borbón dynasty was restored in 1814. It became the Plaza de la Constitución again (1820-1823, 1833-1835, 1840-1843), the "Plaza de la República" in 1873, and the Plaza de la Constitución again (1876-1922). At the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 it acquired its current name, the Plaza Mayor. The Casa de la Panadería was built during the original remodeling as the city’s chief bakery; after the 2nd burning, Román commissioned Claudio Coello and José Jiménez Donoso to decorate its interior and the frescoes on the façade. Enrique Guijo did further artwork on the building in 1914. In 1988 Carlos Franco won a competition to redecorate the façade; his frecoes of Cybele, Proserpine, Bacchus, Cupid, and other figures invented by himself, interwoven into the history of Madrid, were carried out in 1992. The canopies of Casa Maria restaurant are on the left side of the photo.