XX Century

• Gran Via does justice to its name

Madrid began the century with slightly more than half a million inhabitants. Even so, the infrastructure was insufficient to maintain the growth of which the city was undergoing. It is for that reason that the Gran Via was broadened and today is one of the most important streets in Madrid.

In 1917 the construction of the Metro began with a tunnel extension of 3.6 km in length. The Metro joined the Puerta del Sol and Cuatro Caminos. In 1919 Alfonso XIII inaugurated the first underground rail line. One month later the citizens of Madrid were able to use and enjoy this service, which originally sold tickets for first and second class.

• The lowest moment: the Civil War

During the Civil War, nearly all activities stopped in Madrid and in 1937 a Committee of reform was created, titled the Committee for Reconstruction and Cleaning and was presided over by Julian Besteiro. Several committees overseeing the services of water and light were created, as well as other committees in charge of protecting the pumps at major fountains (Cibeles, Neptune, Apolo, etc..) and principal buildings. After the Civil War the main objective was the reconstruction of the city, dictated by the Council for Reconstruction of Madrid.

In the Sixties, known as the Happy Sixties, the country began to recover and began to think about leaving behind the dark cloud that hung over it throughout the hard postwar period of the Fifties. In this time, the great migratory movements of Spain commenced. The population of the countryside emptied in favor of the cities.

Roughly at this time began a time of accelerated industrialization and fast growth that forced the necessity for the creation of the Urban Plan of 1963. This plan transferred the problems from the city to the distinct municipalities within the metropolitan area.

• Picking up the pieces

The automobile was the symbol of the time and invaded the city so that the boulevards that gave the city a natural image began to disappear.

Madrid began to develop bit by bit and so the people of Madrid began to think about their leisure time, so they started to create parks, improve museums etc...

On May 15th, 1969 the mayor Arias Navarra inaugurated the Amusement Park in la Casa del Campo, which instantly became one of largest in Europe. The Zoo opened its doors for the first time on the 23 of June, 1972.

• La Movida the name that needs no explanation

Later in that decade, the Royal Court in Madrid celebrated the proclamation of the new king of Spain and the institution of the Democracy in our country. The Eighties gave birth to the first clear sample of cultural and progressive movements for Madrid. Born was the "Movida Madrileņa," (the eternal nocturnal partying famous around the world). The streets, bars, cinemas filled with the names of artists who tried to give to their city a different image than that which it had during the pro-Franco era. The "Movida Madrileņa" provided our fair city its famous jump to the fame.

In the 90s the people of Madrid can fish once again in the Manzanares River due to the creation of 50 new fishing posts between the Queen's Bridge and dam number 3. The river provides housing for an aquatic population of ten thousand fish.

Even though the Olympic Games in Barcelona and the Expo of Seville fell in the same year, Madrid was crowned in 1992 as the Cultural Capital of Europe. It couldn't be any less.

At the current time, the city is made up of 21 districts with five million inhabitants, distributed throughout a million and a half homes. A city of the 21st century, one that grows day by day and which you can get to know perfectly here at WebMadrid.