The capital of Spain, located in the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and right in the center of the country, with a population of over three million people, and the home of the Spanish Royal Family.
Madrid, originally called Mayrit, was founded by the emir of Córdoba Muhammad at the end of the 9th century. During the Reconquest of Spain by the Christians, Madrid passed from Muslim to Christian hands several times, it was the origin of the mixture of cultures which characterizes the city still today.
The present location of Madrid, in the centre of Spain, was established by the king Alfonso I in 1083.
What remains today of the distant past are mainly Baroque and Neoclassical structures, and buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries, such as “Plaza Mayor”and “Palacio Real"