Centro

Next week one of Madrid's most prominent symbols is going to disappear from its central square: due to reconstruction work in the capital's (and the country's) most central square, the landmark statue of a bear licking (sniffing?) a tree ("el oso y el madroño"), currently installed a few steps from the Puerta del Sol, will be moving a few blocks east, towards the Carrera de San Jerónimo.

The relatively unassuming (and easy-to-miss) statue of the bear is the work of the Spanish sculptor Antonio Navarro. [CORRECTED]

Few makeover projects have been handled with such a degree of architectural audacity as the recent transformation of a disused electric station in Madrid's Las Huertas district into the cultural center La Caixa Forum - Madrid.

The Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron not only gutted the building, removing most of its interiors and changing its shape and size by conspicuously adding a layer of several floors, they also literally lifted it from its foundation, giving the whole structure a tense “suspended” look.

The resulting space now houses a cultural center with its own exhibition space, a large auditorium, a bookstore and a top-floor café...

Read the rest of: "Caixa Forum - Madrid"»

One of the most frequently photographed sights in Madrid that's nevertheless completely ignored in the city guidebooks is the Tío Pepe sign in Puerta del Sol. Given the number of tourists taking pictures in front of the sign (with many opting for a silly trick where they pretend to be "holding" the giant bottle behind them... very creative, guys, but it's been done before) and consequently, given the sign's status as the city's de facto second emblem (at least in tourists' minds... the first still being the bear, of course), it seems almost unbelievable that no guidebook provides at least a cursory look at the sign's story. Allow me to take the onerous task upon myself..

Read the rest of: "Glowing Above the Sun: The Tío Pepe Sign"»