Madrid

Spain 2009
IMG_6547-5321 Plaza de Espana (Spain Square), building behind: Edificio Espana (Spain Building), being gutted out to become a luxury condo
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IMG_6551 Bronze sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (fictional characters in Cervantes' Don Quixote books)
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IMG_6552 Bronze sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
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IMG_6556 Stone sculpture of Miguel de Cervantes, 1547–1616
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IMG_6557 Cervantes Monument, most of the monument was built between 1925 and 1930. It was finished between 1956 and 1957. Building on the left, Torre de Madrid (Tower of...
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IMG_6558 Side view with other characters on Cervantes Monument
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IMG_6559 Parque del Oeste (Western Park) where Temple of Debod is housed
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IMG_6561 Interesting sculpture at one of the entrances to Parque del Oeste. Does it look like a mummy lying on sandbags?
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IMG_6569-5331 The temple was built originally 15 km south of Aswan in southern Egypt, started as a small single room chapel in the early 2nd century BC, it was dedicated to...
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IMG_6570 When the construction of the Great Dam of Aswan in 1960 threatened several monuments and archeological sites, the Egyptian government decided to give it to...
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IMG_6572 The temple was carefully dismantled in 1969-70, then put on a ship to Valencia followed by a train to Madrid. It was opened to the public in 1972.
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IMG_6573 View of Santa María la Real de La Almudena (Almudena Cathedral) from Western Park - cathedral construction began in 1879, stopped during the Spanish Civil War...
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IMG_6576-5334 When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the seat of the Church in Spain remained in Toledo. Madrid has no Cathedral for a long...
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IMG_6577 View of Basilica de San Francisco el Grande (San Francisco Church) from Western Park, church built in 1784
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IMG_6578 Tall trees lined the Western Park
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IMG_6579 Two tall, narrow gateways lead to the temple itself, which has a colonnaded porch.
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IMG_6564 Templo de Debod (Temple of Debod), inside Western Park
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IMG_6579-5335 This constitutes one of the few works of ancient Egyptian architecture which can be seen outside Egypt and the only one of its kind in Spain.
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IMG_6582 The reassembled gateways appear to have been placed in a different order than when originally erected in Egypt.
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IMG_6583-5337 One section of the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), located west, next to Plaza de Oriente square, official residence of the King of Spain, 2nd largest palace in...
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