Madrid

In the mid-sixteenth century, his imperial dream having failed, Charles V (1500-1558) was forced to divide his possessions between his son and his brother. Spain was assigned to Philip II (1527-1598). In 1561 the new king chose Madrid (in the photo: the symbol of the city, El Oso y el Madroño) as the capital of his kingdom (which also included the Italian territories and colonies of the New World) and built in its surroundings the palace-monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Within a few decades, from a small town (no more than 10,000 inhabitants), Madrid turned into a populous town: “Madrid is only the court,” stated a proverb of the time, not just to say that the Castilian town was not only the seat of the Habsburg court (Charles V was instead a traveling sovereign), but also that the city revolved around it. Especially during the reign of Philip III (1598-1621), Madrid adapted to institutional needs: the Plaza Mayor became the point of convergence of the radial roads around which the city would develop in later years. In the seventeenth century Madrid hosted religious ceremonies and solemn processions guided by the Baroque style and Counter-Reformation, and the autos da fe (a public act of faith imposed by the Inquisition on the convicted, which could culminate with the burning of the convicted). In the eighteenth century, the capital of the kingdom took on a distinct Baroque appearance, which is still evinced.