The street art in Madrid as it used to be in the past.
Now that summer holidays are over for us, we are back to tell you about the history of the Street art in Madrid. We wanted to show you pictures of the places that we show during our street art tour in Madrid. We will also explain you the history behind the spots that represent the most active graffiti walls in downtown districts. Hope you like our freshest article!
El Campo de Cebada. Street art in Madrid next La Latina metro station.
It was during 1622 when Madrid’s journalists first wrote about this street art plaza: “There was a 200 ft. length & 180 ft. width garden created…”. The idea of a public area where to meet and trade products with others was developed with the construction of Mercado de la Cebada (Barley’s market) in 1870. The space, currently used by El Campo de Cebada, was built by the management of Spanish arquitect Mariano Calvo Pereira and inaugurated by King Alfonso XII in 1875. It wasn’t considered as a very healthy market and part of it was demolished. The construction of a sports community center took place in 1968 and demolished in 2009. Local neighbors have been fighting for the reconstruction of Madrid’s dowtown district sports complex since then and one of the main goals was to maintain the street art in Madrid.
The original construction was developed using iron & glass as it is shown above. The market occupied a total surface of 6,323 sq. meters.
Dr. Homes and Mr. Mu were some of the graffiti artists who decorated the walls where one of the most important markets in Madrid is located.
The community sports center built in 1968 included a swimming pool, two gyms, a weight-lifting area and two florists.
The street art in Madrid is now represented by local, national and international artists who can paint legally in a public spot. Wanna know how? Check this article about graffiti walls in Madrid.
La Tabacalera, former tobacco warehouse & factory.
Las Cigarreras was the name that the more than 3,000 women who worked in the labours of cutting, chopping and distributing tobacco related products received during the XIX and XX centuries. These ladies worked in one of the pioneer industries in Madrid city. Not only they were well organized in their daily tasks but fought for their rights. It should also be known that it was easy to find illegal tobacco in Madrid’s black market during 1809, but the development of a new industry in a period of time when French warrior Napoleón was present in Madrid helped the tobacco industry in Spain mainly in Madrid, Sevilla and Alicante. La Tabacalera is one of the most active spots where to find street art in Madrid, whether it’s on its walls or the interior of the warehouse distributed along approximately 9,200 sq. meters.
La Tabacalera and its workers during the Civil War. In the frame, Las cigarreras lining up for work in one of its warehouses.
The walls of La Tabacalera as decorated by Okudart. Muros Tabacalera is a street art festival in Madrid which takes place every two other years.
La Tabacalera’s main entrance. It is located in Embajadores street, around Embajadores neighborhood were all these workers lived during the XX century.
Local artists helped during the development of Muros Tabacalera using scaffoldings to paint these public walls.
La Neomudejar, the beginning of the railway system in Spain and the location for the best street art in Madrid.
It was Marqués de Salamanca, a rich businness man, who expropiated this land in 1845 to built the warehouses where the Spanish railtrack system was developed. He took ownership of a land which was used by local farmers to grow plants & vegetables. Atocha pier was inaugurated on February 9th, 1851 and in 1856 Madrid, Zaragoza, Alicante were linked with a company that received the acronym of MZA. La Neomudejar was built in 1906, occuping the warehouse where Madrid’s avant garde center is located nowadays. We can still observe the shrapnel that in 1936 hit the building during the Spanish Civil War. The underground and non-commercial modern art museum of Madrid was inaugurated in 2013, featuring the best street art in Madrid.
La Neomudejar is located at the end of the boulevard located on the left hand side of the picture.
Por Favor is the local artist who decorated the two stencils at La Neomudejar’s entrance: #Soledad & #LaNeomudejar.
Atocha Renfe Station. We can observe on both sides of the image the warehouses where the railtrack system in Spain was developed.
This is a spool of wire recycled and turned into an artistic intervention where a girl is playing with a Hula-hoop made of sharp materials.
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