Plaza de la Lealtad

In the 16th century this was gardens on the edge of the promenade. In 1613 the Music Tower rose here, from whose balconies musicians entertained summer strollers. It held out for a century and a half, until in 1769 the Count of Aranda had it removed while remodeling the Prado de San Jerónimo at the behest of Charles III. The name of the place comes from what happened on 2 and 3 May 1808. General Murat’s troops shot several hundred Madrid residents at this point who had joined the uprising against the French occupation, and the bodies were buried right there. Parliament wished to raise them a monument. The first stone was laid in 1821, but the turmoil of the Liberal Triennium stalled the work until 1836. The obelisk was unveiled on 2 May 1840, the day its sarcophagus received the remains. In 1909 those of captains Daoíz and Velarde were added. Since 1985, when Juan Carlos I broadened the tribute to all Spaniards fallen in war, a gas flame that never goes out has burned beside the obelisk.