Gran Vía

Gran Vía (literally "Great Way") is an ornate and upscale shopping street located in central Madrid. It leads from "Calle de Alcalá" (Alcalá street), close to Plaza de Cibeles, to Plaza de España.

The lively street is one of the city's most important shopping areas, with a large number of hotels and large movie theaters; it is also noted for the grand architecture prevalent among many of its buildings. Now, most of the theatres are being replaced by shopping malls.

Conception

In the mid 19th century, Madrid's urban planners decided that a new thoroughfare had to be created, connecting the Calle de Alcalá with the Plaza de España. The project required many buildings in the center of the city to be demolished, earning it the name of 'an axe blow on the map'. Decades after the first plans were made, construction still hadn't started and the media ridiculed the project, cynically calling it the 'Gran Vía' or 'Great Road'. Finally in 1904 it was approved and construction started a couple of years later. The last part of the street was completed in 1929.

High buildings

The new road created opportunities for architects, who had the ability to create large buildings in the latest architectural styles. The first eye catching building starting from the Calle de Alcalá is the most famous of all, the Edificio Metrópolis or Metropolis Building. The landmark was built between 1907 and 1911 after a design by the architects Jules & Raymond Février. The original statue was replaced in 1975 by a statue of a winged Goddess Victory.

A bit further along the Gran Vía, on the left hand side is another landmark, the Edificio Grassy, another corner building with a small tower, built in 1917. Visible from here is the tower of the Telefónica Building, a skyscraper built between 1926 and 1929 for the Spanish telecommunications company. The 88-meter (290 ft) building was the tallest in Madrid and was designed by an American, Louis S. Weeks.

Plaza del Callao

Farther towards the Plaza de España, the Gran Vía crosses a small square, the Plaza del Callao, named after the battle of El Callao. This square is the heart of cinematic Madrid, with about six movie theaters. One of them, the Capitol, is located in a beautiful Art Deco building.

However, recent changes in building rules have allowed the reform of the theatres into more lucrative shopping centers.

Plaza de España

The last part of the Gran Vía, constructed between 1925 and 1929 leads to the Plaza de España, a large square dominated by two skyscrapers built in the 1950s, the symmetric Edificio de España and the Torre de Madrid. Here the Gran Vía becomes the Calle Princesa, leading north to the Arco de la Victoria.

Names of the way

The Gran Vía of Madrid has many historical names, both official and unofficial. Conception divided the Road in three parts. The first one was built between 1910 and 1917 and was called "Calle del Conde de Peñalver" ("Count of Peñalver Street"). Second part of the project started on 1917 and was ended on 1921. It was named "Calle de Pi y Margall" ("Francisco Pi y Margall Street") because of a deceased politician. Third part of the Road and last one did not start until 1925 and was called "Calle Eduardo Dato Iradier" ("Eduardo Dato Street") because of another politician.

Three months before the Spanish Civil War began, the Second Spanish Republic changed some streets names under leftist influence. The two first parts of the avenue were called "Avenida de la C.N.T." ("C.N.T. Avenue"). When the Civil War started, the avenue was named "Avenida de Rusia" ("Russia Avenue") due to the support of this country to the Spanish Republic, but its name would be changed to "Avenida de la Unión Soviética" ("Soviet Union Avenue"). However, the avenue was popularly nicknamed as "Avenida de los obuses" ("howitzer avenue") because of the continues bombardments by the Nationalist forces loyal to Francisco Franco. The reason for the continuous attacks on this place was the placement of the "Edificio de Telefónica" in this street.

Just after the end of the war when the rebels entered in Madrid they changed the name of the road and named it "Avenida de José Antonio" ("José Antonio Avenue") after one of their greatest politician figures, founder of the fascist party, Falange. It wouldn't be until 1981, in Spain democracy when the socialist mayor restored the names of 27 streets and the avenue was simply named "Gran Vía" ("Great Road").

In media

*"La Gran Vía" is a zarzuela.
*In a famous scene of the Álex de la Iglesia's 1995 sci-fi/horror film "The Day of the Beast", Santiago Segura hangs above Gran Vía from the iconic neon advertisement for Schweppes on Edificio Carrión/Capitol.
*Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 film "Abre los ojos" features a dream scene of a deserted Gran Vía. The 2001 Hollywood remake of this film, "Vanilla Sky", set the action in New York instead of Madrid and the same scene featured a deserted Times Square.
*"Gran Via" is also the title of the 1995 album by Matt Bianco.
*"The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway ends with Jake and Brett in a taxi on Gran Via.

External links

*http://www.aviewoncities.com/madrid/granvia.htm (Source)