The brilliant Spanish capital of Madrid welcomes millions of visitors every year. This city is all made up of Ibero-Romance heritage, and it still hasn’t turned into another faceless modern metropolis of glass and concrete. Judging by the way the residents take care of him, such a fate does not threaten Madrid. It is for the best, because it is precisely for the sake of its unique appearance that numerous tourists come here.
Facts about Madrid
- The population of Madrid is 3.2 million people. At the same time, Madrid Barajas Airport is one of the largest and busiest in the world.
- Madrid was founded more than 1000 years ago, but primitive people lived here about 100,000 years ago, as evidenced by archaeological finds (interesting facts about primitive people).
- The coat of arms of this city is a bear rising on its hind legs, which regales itself on berries from a strawberry tree.
- Despite the fact that Madrid is located at an altitude of only 667 meters above sea level, it is still the highest European capital in terms of location.
- One of the universities of Madrid is over 700 years old. It still works and teaches students to this day.
- One of the amusement parks in Madrid has a 1.2 km long roller coaster made entirely of wood.
- Madrid became the capital of Spain only in the middle of the 16th century. Before that, the function of the capital of the Spanish Kingdom was performed by the city of Valladolid (interesting facts about Spain).
- It was here that the famous incendiary flamenco dance appeared.
- Madrid has the largest royal palace in Europe, in which as many as 3418 rooms with a total area of more than 135,000 square meters. True, the royal family of Spain does not live in it.
- Madrid’s Prado Museum is one of the top 20 most visited museums in the world.
- Purely geographically, Madrid is located in the very center of Spain.
- Madrid’s Royal Botanical Garden is one of the largest in the world. About 1,500 trees and over 90,000 other plants grow here.
- Once a year, a fun competition is held here, during which participants must fall asleep in the midst of a noisy crowd that cheers them up.
- In terms of population, Madrid ranks third among all cities in the European Union, second only to London and Berlin (interesting facts about London).
- The roof of the famous Madrid «Metropolis» covered with gold.
- Madrid’s Atocha Station is the largest in Spain.
- Madrid has about 240-250 days of sunshine a year, making it one of the sunniest cities in Europe.
- The famous Madrid Zoo was opened a quarter of a millennium ago. Now it has created comfortable living conditions for even the rarest animals.
- About 50 million passengers pass through the Madrid airport every year. This is about 15 times more than the number of local residents.
- Area 10 506 km².
- There are truly ancient taverns and pubs in the world, but the most the old restaurant, which opened its doors at the beginning of the 18th century, is located exactly in Madrid.
- The famous artist Pablo Picasso at one time directed the equally famous Prado Museum in Madrid.
- Football club «Real Madrid», founded at the beginning of the last century, is the richest on the planet, and at the same time one of the most successful.
- In total, you can visit more than 70 different museums in Madrid.
- Officially, about 100 thousand foreigners live in the city, but in fact there are much more of them. There are quite a lot of illegal immigrants from poorer countries, especially from Africa and Latin America (interesting facts about Latin America).
- Among all cities in Europe, Madrid occupies one of the first places in terms of population density.
- It is also recognized as the greenest of all European cities.