Madrid from the sky: the Moncloa Lighthouse

Read this post on TravelFeed.io for the best experience

---

Inside the Moncloa Lighthouse: panoramic

I am fortunate to live in a city with a lot of history, with a lot of tradition behind it and which is wonderfully well-deserved by a well-deserved slogan, devised in 1992, when it was declared the European Capital of Culture: Madrid.

Moncloa: the Lighthouse rising above the Arch of Victory (Puerta de Moncloa)

Precisely, in that same year another of those emblematic buildings was erected, which invite both locals and visitors to know the capital of Spain from a height perspective, sharing, at least in part, that panoramic view that birds have : the Moncloa Lighthouse.

Towards the lighthouse

Located in the heart of the University City, this curious construction of 110 meters high, which has the eccentric shape of a flying saucer - a term coined in 1947 by the North American pilot, Kenneth Arnold, after contemplating a supposed squadron flying over Mount Rainier - similar to those others that invaded homes around the world, in countless series B science fiction films, it is another invitation to get to know Madrid in a different and above all, entertaining way.

Its flying saucer shape impresses

The building, fully functional and cleared of any furniture, except for a small reception desk, located more or less in its center, as it is supposed that those aforementioned cinematographic dishes should also have it, only serves as a viewpoint.

Panoramic of the University City

A viewpoint, which although it does not complete the 360º of its circumference, due to the placement at one of its ends of the panoramic elevators, not recommended for people suffering from vertigo, constitutes an excellent point of view to discover the most significant places in Madrid , both for its notoriety and for its height.

In the first place the Ministry of Air. In the background: the Meliá hotel, the Torre de Madrid and the Ríu hotel

Starting from the closest, such as the aforementioned University City, the Casa de Campo - another of the great natural lungs of the city - the large hospital residences - such as the University Clinical Hospital, La Concepción or the Puerta de Hierro Hospital - there is a splendid panoramic view of the Moncloa Interchange, the Arco de la Victoria –also called Puerta de la Moncloa- and the Ministry of Air, whose shape not only evokes the buildings of that Renaissance Madrid that can be seen in the Plaza de la Villa, in the building that was the old Town Hall, but also, the architectural model on which was based not only the famous monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, ordered to be built by King Felipe II, but also the model that they took as a basis great palaces and royal residences, such as that of the Granja de San Ildefonso.

The Arch of Victory, also known as the Puerta de Moncloa and the Interchange

And of course, a magnificent view of even taller buildings, such as Telefónica, located in the heart of Gran Vía, the Torre de Madrid and the Hotel Ríu, in the Plaza de España, the famous Pirulí de O'donnell - headquarters of the facilities of Radio Televisión Española, to which the singers Víctor Manuel and Ana Belén dedicated a song entitled 'From the Pirulí you see a country'- or the formidable Torres KIO, whose dark color they can remember, letting themselves be carried away by their imagination, the towers of Mordor and even, no less notable and important buildings, such as the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace.

Panoramic view of the Casa de Campo and the banks of the Manzanares

I hope you enjoyed your visit. And remember: from Madrid to heaven.

Part of the facilities of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation (La Concepción), a building with a plan in the shape of a Greek cross

NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs that accompany it, as well as the video that illustrates it, are my exclusive intellectual property and therefore are subject to my Copyright.

El Pirulí on O'donnell Street, which are actually the facilities of Spanish Radio Television

Small Photo Album:

Panoramic of Isaac Peral' Street

Panoramic with the Pirulí de O'donnell in the background

Overview of the Moncloa Interchange

Lighthouse interior: austerity and space

Related Movie:

---

View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.