Plaza Moncloa
Named after the grounds of La Moncloa behind it, an estate that in turn inherited the surname of the Counts of Monclova, a title of Andalusian roots.
The name travels from Andalusia to the western entrance of Madrid. The square inherits it from the grounds of La Moncloa that stretched behind it, an old grove beside the Manzanares. And that Madrid Moncloa in turn took the surname of the Counts of Monclova, a title tied to a castle in Fuentes de Andalucía, in the Seville countryside. The etymology usually traces that place name to the Latin Mons Clovis, “the mountain of Clovis.”
The square has changed its sign several times. It was born as Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo, became Plaza de la Moncloa around 1890 and, in the 1930s, was Plaza de los Mártires de Madrid; the current name was fixed in 1980.
Today it is one of the great junctions of western Madrid. Above it rise the Arco de la Victoria and the Faro de Moncloa, raised in 1992, while below beats one of the busiest transport interchanges in the capital.