Madrid

Santa María la Real de La Almudena is a Catholic cathedral in Madrid. When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561,... the seat of the Church in Spain remained in Toledo; so the new capital – unusually for a Catholic country – had no cathedral. Plans were discussed as early as the 16th century to build a cathedral in Madrid dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena, but construction did not begin until 1879. The cathedral seems to have been built on the site of a medieval mosque that was destroyed in 1083 when Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid. Francisco de Cubas, the Marquis of Cubas, designed and directed the construction in a Gothic revival style. Construction ceased completely during the Spanish Civil War, and the project was abandoned until 1950, when Fernando Chueca Goitia adapted the plans of de Cubas to a baroque exterior to match the grey and white façade of the Palacio Real, which stands directly opposite. The cathedral was not completed until 1993, when it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
more

The Plaza Mayor was built during the Habsburg period and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located only a few Spanish blocks... away from another famous plaza, the Puerta del Sol. The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape, measuring 129 by 94 metres, and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 breathtaking balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entranceways. The Casa de la Panadería, serving municipal and cultural functions, dominates the Plaza Mayor. The origins of the Plaza go back to 1576 when Philip I asked Juan de Herrera, a renowned Classical architect, to discuss a plan to remodel the busy and chaotic area of the old Plaza del Arrabal. Juan de Herrera was the artist who designed the first project in 1560 to remodel the old Plaza del Arrabal but construction did not start until 1617, during Philip III's reign. The king asked Juan Gómez de Mora to continue with the project, and he finished the porticoes in 1619. Nevertheless, the Plaza Mayor as we know it today is the work of the architect Juan de Villanueva who was given the glorious, albeit difficult task of its reconstruction in 1790 after a series of enormous fires.
more

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the official name of Spain's national museum of 20th century art . The museum was officially... inaugurated on September 10, 1992 and is named for Queen Sofia of Spain. It is located in Madrid, near the Atocha train and metro stations, at the southern end of the so-called Golden Triangle of Art . The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain's two greatest 20th century masters, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Certainly the most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso's painting Guernica. The Reina Sofía collection has works by artists such as: Juan Gris, Joan Miró, Julio González, Eduardo Chillida, Antoni Tàpies, Pablo Gargallo, Pablo Serrano, Lucio Muñoz, Luis Gordillo, Jorge Oteiza and José Gutiérrez Solana.
more

The National Archaeological Museum of Spain is a museum in Madrid, Spain, located beside the Plaza de Colón , sharing its building with the... National Library. The museum was founded in 1867 by a Royal Decree of Isabella II, and its purpose was to be a depository for numismatic, archaeological, ethnographical and decorative art collections compiled by the Spanish monarchs. In 1895 all the collections were moved to the current venue, a neoclassical building projected by architect Francisco Jareño and built from 1866 to 1892. In 1968 were started renovation and extension works that considerably increased its area. In 2008/2009 the museum was being remodelled with only the highlights from the collection being shown to the public. It is reported that the remodelled museum will concentrate on a core role and will release items from the decorative arts collection. The current collection includes, among others, Pre-historic, Celtic, Iberian, Greek and Roman antiquities and medieval objects.
more

The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando , located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and... gallery. The academy was established by royal decree in 1744. About twenty years later, the enlightened monarch, Charles III purchased a palace in Madrid as the academy's new home. The building had been designed by José Benito de Churriguera for the Goyeneche family. The king commissioned Diego de Villanueva to convert the building for academic use, employing a neoclassical style in place of Churriguera's baroque design. Doubling as a museum and gallery, today it houses a fine art collection of paintings from the 15th to 20th century: Giovanni Bellini, Correggio, Rubens, Zurbarán, Murillo, Goya, Juan Gris, Pablo Serrano The academy is also the headquarters of the Madrid Academy of Art. Francisco Goya was once one of the academy's directors, and, its alumni include Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Antonio López García, Juan Luna, and Fernando Botero.
more

Andrés Vicente Gómez is a Spanish film producer. he is the manager of Lolafilms. He is married to the journalist and TV Presenter Concha García Campoy.

Miguel Ángel Múñoz Blanco is a Spanish actor and singer. Muñoz began his career as an actor at the age of 9 in the film El... Palomo cojo, then multiplied the television appearances, especially in the soap opera Al salir de clase and the series Compañeros, before doubling Sinbad in the Spanish version of the film Sinbad of the Seven Seas. In 2002, he performed the role of Roberto Arenales on the television series Un Paso Adelante, for which he took dance classes. Following the impressive success of the series, Beatriz Luengo, Pablo Puyol, Monica Cruz, Silvia Marty and him founded the band Upa Dance. In 2004, while all other members have left the band to begin a solo careers, MAM refounded the band with Edu Del Prado and Elizabeth Jordan, who joined the series. After stopping Un Paso Adelante, in 2004, MAM Has solved to start in turn a solo career, without neglecting his acting career. He released the single "Dirás que estoy loco", already performed by the character of Roberto. The song was ranked #1 in Spain for eleven consecutive weeks, by selling 180,000 copies.
more

Natalia Jiménez Sarmiento is a Spanish singer. She is the lead singer of the Spanish pop band La 5a Estacion. Jiménez was born to a... Spanish father who was a singer; and her mother is Portuguese. In 2007, Natalia had a participation in the album "Real" of the Puerto Rican singer Ednita Nazario, performed a duet song "No", . This song only appears on the album Ednita Nazario. "The Best Thing About Me Is You" is Ricky Martin's new single with the original English version of the song features singer Joss Stone, while its Spanish version, "Lo Mejor De Mi Vida Eres Tú", replaces Stone's vocals with Natalia Jiménez. On November 12, 2010, after appearing and performing at the 2010 Latin Grammys with Ricky Martin, Natalia announced her solo album and said she hopes to release her first single in January. She also announced that the band, La Quinta Estacion was not broken up and that her and Angel Reyero, her bandmate, were focusing on solo projects. She said "The band is still there, everything is still there, one day we will release another album [as La Quinta Estacion]".
more

Paloma Cela Molinero is a Spanish actress and model.

Freddy Novillo is a Spanish actor, musician, and singer. He was born as Alfredo Novillo in Madrid, Spain. He has won critical acclaim during his... career, which includes radio, television and stage . Although he most often appears on stage, in musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar, he first became a household name with a lot of stage comedies and drama. He is the director of the Spanish theatre company Keops Karnak Teatro. That company was the first one in Spain, exclusively dedicated to musicals.
more

Alicia Borrachero Bonilla is a Spanish actress. She is popular thanks to her roles on TV, but she has also taken part in theatre plays and movies.... She studied drama at Nazareth College, and in the drama training atelier in Madrid. She had her first child in November 2005 with her husband since 2003, the actor Ben Temple.
more

Maribel Verdú is a Spanish actress. She is known to English-speaking audiences for playing Luisa in the 2001 film Y tu mamá también... and Mercedes in Guillermo del Toro's 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth. In Spain she is known for films such as Belle Époque, Tetro, and Huevos de oro. Verdú was born María Isabel Verdú Rollán. She began acting at 13. She has appeared in almost 50 movies since 1984. Most have been in Spanish. She has also been in TV shows. In 2007, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. She won a Goya Award in 2008 for her lead role in Seven Billiard Tables . Verdú is married to Pedro Larrañaga, son of actors Carlos Larrañaga and María Luisa Merlo.
more

Elsa Lafuente Pataky is a Spanish actress. Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of José Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and... Cristina Pataky Medianu, a publicist of Hungarian and Romanian ancestry. Pataky attended the Universidad de San Pablo CEU and studied journalism. During this time, Pataky also enrolled in acting classes. In addition to Spanish, she is fluent in English, Romanian, Italian, and French. Elsa was in a relationship with Adrien Brody from about 2007 to 2009. Elsa is married to actor Chris Hemsworth. They made their relationship public at the opening Gala and “Unmasking” for the Resnick Pavilion at LACMA in Los Angeles on 25 September 2010. The couple are expecting their first child in 2012. Pataky was a member of the Madrid theatre company, Teatro Cámara de Ángel Gutiérrez. Eventually, she left school when she was cast in the television series Al salir de clase. With the success of Al Salir de Clase, Pataky received her first film offer, El arte de morir. Some of her subsequent films were co-productions with the UK and France, which introduced her to working in English and French.
more

Victoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by... director Pedro Almodóvar. Abril was born in Madrid. She became widely known in Spain in 1976 when she appeared for two years in the show Un, dos, tres responda otra vez as secretary, although later she has frequently disowned this work and does not like to remember it in interviews. Besides working in Spain, she also made films in France, where she resides, Italy and Iceland. She has been nominated eight times for Goya Awards in the Lead Actress category and has won once. She won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival for her role in Amantes. Two years later, she was awarded with the Berlinale Camera at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival. She is also a singer; in 2005, she made her debut with a bossanova-jazz album called PutchEros do Brasil.
more

Ángela Molina is a Spanish actress, and a daughter of Antonio Molina, Spanish singer and actor. Molina studied dance and theater art in the... Escuela Superior de Madrid. She rose to international prominence after starring in Luis Buñuel's last movie That Obscure Object of Desire. She has worked with such directors as Pedro Almodóvar, Jaime de Armiñán, José Luis Borau, Jaime Chávarri and Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón In 1985 she became the first foreign actress to win the Italian cinematographic David di Donatello prize. She was awarded Best actress prize at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival in 1987 for her role in Half of Heaven. She was also repeatedly nominated for the Premio Goya — Spanish cinematographic award.
more

Carmen García Maura is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, Maura is best known for her collaborations with noted... Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. Maura was born in Madrid. Daughter of Salvador Garcia Santa-Cruz and Carmen Maura Arenzana. Her great-grandfather was the Count of Fuente Nueva de Arenzana, who lived in the Palace of Arenzana in Madrid, currently the embassy of France. Her other great grand father from her mother´s side was the artist Bartolome Maura Montaner brother of Antonio Maura, a former prime minister of Spain on five occasions and a noted orator. Maura studied philosophy and literature at the École de Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1964 to 1970, she was married to a lawyer, Francisco Forteza, with whom she has two children, Carmen and Pablo. Maura began her career as a cabaret singer. Maura's film career was launched in 1970 with an appearance in the film The Man in Hiding. This was followed by a major role in the 1977 film Tigres de papel.
more

Chus Lampreave is a Spanish actress. She started in movies in 1958, but she became internationally known thanks to her roles in films by Pedro... Almodóvar, where she plays old ladies with maternal or pastoral traits.
more