Today we took a wander over to Plaza Mayor, once the centre of Old Madrid, is a town square and market in the center of the capital. Built in the 15th century, it was originally called the Plaza de Arrabal and served as the main market for the town.
It has been destroyed a number of times over the century by fire, and remodeled and rebuilt by various architects and designers. The plaza is surrounded on all 4 sides by a 4-story structure, with the bottom story being commercial and the remaining 3 stories residential suites with inward-facing balconies.
The plaza was at one time 5 stories high, but after a devastating fire in 1790 the number of stories was reduced to the 4 seen now.
King Philip III and his winged protectors
In the center of the square is a statue of King Philip III of Spain, riding a horse:
There’s an interesting story to this statue. After 1936 when the dictator Franco rose to power, he started dismantling all symbols of the monarchy in Madrid. When this hollow statue of Felipe III was toppled over, it broke open and bones came spilling out of it. The dismantlers, who were highly superstitious, feared they may have released a curse and made no further attempts to damage it.
After Franco’s demise and when the statue was restored, it was discovered these bones were actually from birds. There was a small hole the statue which was big enough for birds to get into, but due to its placement and angle, they could not get back out. So over the years, hundreds of birds met their end trapped inside the statue. Poor birds! The hole has since been sealed and the statue is no longer an aviary tomb. But you could say that they protected his statute from further harm.
Images from our outing
Just a few images from our outing. We also did a cheesy Instagram Live from here, you can check that out on our Instagram profile. Follow us for updates and candids!
