Puerta de Hierro (Spanish for ''Iron Gate'') is a monument of the second half of the 18th century, located in the northwest of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain, in the district of Moncloa near the ''

Monte de El Pardo The Monte de El Pardo is a large forested area in Madrid, Spain, extending roughly across one quarter of the total municipal area. The Monte de El Pardo has an area of 15289.12 ha. It was already mentioned as hunting ground in the Alfonso XI's ...

''. It occupies a landscaped traffic island, defined by several branches of the highway A-6 and M-30, an enclave which is difficult to access. It is built in classical

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

Location

Unlike the other three monumental gates of Madrid (those of Puerta de Alcala, Puerta de Toledo and Puerta de San Vicente), Puerta de Hierro is not in the city centre, but at the western edge, near the University City and the Government

Palace of Moncloa The Palace of Moncloa (), also known as Moncloa Palace or La Moncloa, is the official residence and workplace of the President of the Government (Spanish: ''Presidente del Gobierno''), a position usually known in the English language as the Prime ...

. It was erected here because this was the ceremonial entrance to the Royal Park of El Pardo, a hunting area historically reserved to the

Spanish monarchy The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish monarchy is constitu ...

and, at present, it is protected through the . It was built between 1751 and 1753. A neighbouring residential area is sometimes named after it. The Argentine president

Juan Domingo Perón ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

had a villa there during his Spanish exile. Hence the title of the biographic film '' Puerta de Hierro, el exilio de Perón''. The area is also known for its world famous country club,

Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro (), commonly known as Puerta de Hierro, is a private country club based in Madrid, Spain. It owes its name to the nearby Puerta de Hierro (Madrid), iron memorial arch. Notorious for being associated with the Monar ...

References

Links

* {{Commonscat-inline Baroque architecture in Madrid Buildings and structures in Ciudad Universitaria neighborhood, Madrid Monumental gates in Madrid Monuments and memorials in Madrid