Madrid Trip 2020 Contact Sheet

Contact Sheet from my trip to Madrid (5th of March to 7th of March, 2020)

Here is the contact sheet as well as some of the places I visited whilst in Madrid...I thought this would be beneficial for my art course:

Parque de Retiro

Top left (The Monument of Alfonso XII of Spain): This was one of the main features of the park, it towers over the lake and is very eye-catching. I took this as it has an interesting appearance, it resembles a European Colosseum but has been refurbished - cleaned and repainted.

Top right (The lake): This is the most noticeable natural feature of the park, it has a clean, clear appearance and sits in the centre of the city which is mostly surrounded by desert and mountains (landlocked). It is almost like an oasis for the city. It also has people kayaking and doing various other activities around and in it.

Bottom left (Royal Palace): The Royal Palace is the Capitol Building of Spain, the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands - it is where, currently, Queen Letizia is on the throne. It is, of course, a historic landmark and is a central attraction, with tourists surrounding the nearby walkways and boulevards. The architecture is similar to buildings in London and Paris - the statues surrounding it also are of importance.

Church of America

Top left (Spire of the church): the church has a clean, beige appearance and towers over the street. It has glazed windows and towering steeples - the shot was interesting to me as it shows the true scale of the structure and highlights its features.

Top right (front of the art galley): the glass elevator shaft shows the blend of history and modernism - the building it serves is culturally of importance and historic; whereas the shaft itself is transparent and almost industrial looking, which is a nice contrast.

Bottom left (going up the lift): you cannot see in the second photo, but there are actually two elevator shafts on the front of this gallery. This was looking over into the right hand side shaft, from the left hand side one. As well as seeing the glass elevator shaft, you also get the background - which is tourists in the courtyard and trees in the background, as well as a cafe and apartment building.

Sol City

Sol is a major, bustling district within Madrid - it is also where we stayed throughout the trip. Since it was a short trip, we didn't venture out into the larger areas of Madrid, but stayed within a few miles of our hotel at all times. Each building in Sol City (Meaning Sun City) has clearly been refurbished - there are not that many truly modern buildings in Sol, but just cultural, interesting ones. This area has a lot of capitalism going on, where major companies are buying older buildings and making them new. For instance, the 'Schweppes' tower used to belong to Paramount films...

Image credit, Vinccihoteles.com

And before that, it used to be called the 'Capitol'. Next, the 'Four Seasons' building was previously an apartment complex, but is now a major corporate office for Europe. In addition, the 'Edificio Metropolis' building is a major national office, previously owned by the insurance company La Union y El Fenix, an is now owned by a new insurance company called Metropolis Seguros (meaning Safe Metropolis).

The point I'm making is that, as it is the capital city, Madrid (particularly Sol) has a pattern of refurbishing historic buildings, rather than building new ones - and is known for keeping its heritage.

Food market

Near Gran Via, Madrid, the Food Market district consists of many Tapas bars and Asian markets, selling food such as Squid Calamari, Octopus, Snails and other exotic foods.

I also took some photos of the surrounding areas...

Top left (Reina Sofia Gallery) - the weather feature, I thought, was just kind of random and so I took a picture of it (that's the honest reason). The architecture behind it is another refurbished, 1700's-style landmark, with dark glass windows and a pink-beige appearance.

Top right (Statue of jockey) - this was one of the few night-shots that I took. You can see the neon glow of the building in the background and it makes for a nice, aesthetic effect - this is just another cultural, historic picture.

Bottom left (cultural building with jockey statue on roof) - I thought this was quite interesting as it has a 1800's vibe to it - there is a statue on the roof on the building, but this contrasts to the McDonald's below it and the busy construction zones surrounding it.

Bottom right (courtyard) - this courtyard was quite quiet, as the coronavirus pandemic was just beginning (and the Spanish government, earlier than the UK, where already starting to enforce laws). At this time of year, that courtyard should have been bustling and full of life - but it was clearly much quieter than usual.