Madrid, a modern European city, where liveliness and art blend in a latin dance!
Madrid, a modern European city, where liveliness and art blend in a latin dance!
By Kon Hans
Madrid is a mysterious
and full of charm Spanish Lady. She is stern and majestic, and at the
same time sensual and cosmopolitan, but above all she knows how to welcome her
visitors. From the famed “Golden
Triangle of Art” that unfolds in her centre with the three big museums:
Prado, Reina Sofia (MNCARS) and Thyssen Bornemisza, to the huge evergreen park
“Buen Retiro”, and from the alternative,
lively and with the omnipresent artistic spirit, neighborhood of Chueca to
the frantic nightlife district of Huertas, where thousands of bars and discos open their doors and let the latin rythms pour out, Madrid offers absolutely everything; except of course the sea.
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| Madrid´s City Hall |
However this absence has forged its Castilian temperament. Situated high in its plateau – it’s difficult to imagine that Madrid has an altitude of 700 m.! – she gazes at the yellow-red plains that unfold all around and at the small villages of the proud Castile, up to the crests of Sierra in
the horizon. The spirit and the pride of the people of this sun-baked land are
the ones that give the character and the charm to the Lady of Spain. People
that have faced poverty, hunger and a heart-breaking civilian war and came out
stronger, and planted the seeds of a brilliant future in the dry land around
them. From that same seed, with much effort, pain and love, Madrid blossomed
into the modern Spanish capital of today that emblazons its past proudly.
Walking in the city
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| La Latina |
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| Puerta del Sol |
Art and creation
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| Art in Madrid - Loewe, Gran Via |
The flagship of its large fleet of art is without doubt the famous Prado Museum, a unique collection
of masterpieces from the 14th century until the beginning of
the 19th, with Velazquez, Goya and El Greco fighting with their dark
forms against the light of Rembrandt and Caravaggio. Of its permanent
collection containing well over 8.000 pieces, only one third of it is possible
for the museum to exhibit each time, even with its new remarkable wing; for
that reason its collection is on a continuous recycling base and a great many
important periodical exhibitions are organized throughout the year. The“Young
Van Dyck” is one of those, which someone visiting Madrid until the end
of March may enjoy.
On the other corners
of the “Golden Triangle” you can find the National Museum-Centreof Art Reina Sofia (MNCARS)and the Museum of Art
Thyssen-Bornemisza; two exceptional museums that complement perfectly
the visit to Prado as they come to offer superb works of modern and
contemporary art to this magical tour in the history of artistic creation.
Both of them organize a score of activities and periodical exhibitions
without mentioning the unique masterpieces of their permanent collections, such
as the enormous and imposing painting of Picasso´s “Guernica” that
you can enjoy in the Reina Sofia Museum in a specifically designed space. For
an eager visitor that would like to visit the massive collection of all three
museums, there exists a single ticket, called "Art Walk
Pass" in a very reasonable price for the whole “Golden Triangle”.
PhotoEspana 2013
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| Art in Madrid - Sala Alcala 31 |
At the end, leaving
the Lady of Madrid behind and looking from high above at the familiar
golden-red canvas with a bittersweet sense overcoming me, as so many times
before, one gets the feeling that the famous Greek writer Kazantzakis indeed
was right when he was saying that “we can have many homelands in our heart”.
(All fotos by Kon Hans)
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| Puerta del Sol - troopers |
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| Bar "Madriz - Madriz" in Fuencarral |
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| Colorful spanish couture |
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| Art in Madrid - Sala Alcala 31 |
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