Principal Buildings.—As compared with other capitals Madrid has very few buildings of much architectural interest. The Basilica de Nuestra Senora c:e Atocha was originally founded in 1523. The collegiate church of San Isidro el Real, in the Calle de Toledo, dates from 1651 ; it is dedicated to St. Isidore the Labourer (d. 117o), the patron saint of Madrid, whose remains were en tombed here. The church of San Francisco el Grande, which contains many interesting monuments, is also known as the Na tional Pantheon. Of secular buildings the most important is the royal palace (Palacio Real), on the west side of the town, on rising ground overhanging the Manzanares. The present edifice was begun under Philip V. in 1737 by Sacchetti of Turin, and was finished in e1764. It is in the Tuscan style, and is 470 ft. square and 1 oo ft. in height, the material being white Colmenar granite. It contains a valuable library and a celebrated collection of tapestries. To the north of the palace are the royal stables and coach-houses, remarkable for their extent ; to the south is the armoury (Museo de la Real Armeria), containing what is possi bly the best collection of the kind in existence. After the Palacio Real may be mentioned the royal picture gallery (Real Museo de Pinturas), adjoining the Salon del Prado; it was built about 1785 as a museum of natural history and academy of sciences. It contains the collections of Charles V., Philip II. and Philip IV., and the pictures number upwards of two thousand. They include Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, El Greco, Ribera, Velazquez, Goya, Vandyck, Rubens and Teniers. An improved grouping of the pictures in 1927 added greatly to its charm. The Biblioteca Nacional, in the Paseo de Recoletos, was founded in 1866, and completed in 1892. Eastward from the Prado are the Buen Retiro Gardens, with ponds and pavilions, and a menagerie. The gardens were formerly the grounds surrounding a royal hunting seat, on the site of which a palace was built for Philip IV. in 1633 ; it was destroyed during the French occupation.
Education, Religion and Charity.—Madrid University de veloped gradually out of the college of Dona Maria de Aragon, established in 1590 by Alphonso Orozco. Schools of mathematics and natural science were added in the i6th and 17th centuries, and in 1786 the medical and surgical college of San Carlos was opened. In 1836-37 the University of Alcala de Henares (q.v.) was transferred to the capital and the older foundations incor porated with it. The University of Madrid thenceforth became the headquarters of education in central Spain. It has an observa tory, and a library containing more than 2,000,000 printed books and mss. It gives instruction, chiefly in law and medicine, but also in literature, philosophy, mathematics and physics. Asso
ciated with the university is the preparatory school of San Isidro, founded by Philip IV. (1621-65), and reorganized by Charles III. in 1770. Excellent work is done by the modern Residencia de Estudiantes, and a new university is being planned on a large scale, several million pesetas having been already subscribed.
There are some hundred official primary schools and a large number of private ones, among which the schools conducted by the Jesuits and the Scolapian fathers claim special mention. Ma drid also has schools of agriculture, architecture, civil and min ing engineering, the fine arts, veterinary science and music. The school of military engineering is at Guadalajara. Besides these special schools there are a self-supporting institute for preparing girls for the higher degrees and for certificates as primary teach ers, and an institute for secondary education, conducted chiefly by ecclesiastics. Among the educational institutions may be reck oned the botanical garden, dating from 1781, the libraries of the palace, the university, and San Isidro, and the museum of natural science, exceedingly rich in the mineralogical department. The principal learned society is the royal Spanish academy, founded in 1713 for the cultivation and improvement of the Spanish tongue. The academy of history possesses a good library, rich in mss. and incunabula, as well as a fine collection of coins and medals. There are many learned societies.
Industries.—The industries of the capital have developed ex traordinarily since 189o. Among the most important factories are those which make articles of leather. Next come the manufac tures of fans, umbrellas, sunshades, chemicals, varnishes, buttons, wax candles, beds, cardboard, porcelain, coarse pottery, matches, baskets, sweets and preserves, gloves, guitars, biscuits, furniture, carpets, corks, cards, carriages, jewellery, drinks of all kinds, plate and plated goods. There are also tanneries, saw and flour mills, glass and porcelain works, soap works, brickfields, paper mills, zinc, bronze, copper and iron foundries. (See also SPAIN : History; ESCORIAL.) See J. Amador de los Rios, Historia de la villa y torte de Madrid (1861-64) ; Valverde y Alvarez, La Capital de Espana (Madrid, 1883) ; E. Sepulveda, La Vida en Madrid en 1886 (1887) ; H. Pefiasco, Las Calles de Madrid (1889) ; F. X. de Palacio y Garcia, count of las Al menas, La Municipalidad de Madrid (1896) ; E. SepUlveda, El Madrid de los recuerdos: coleccion de articulos (1897) ; • P. Hauser, Madrid bajo el punto de vista medico-social (1902) ; L. Williams, Toledo and Ma drid, their Records and Romances (1903). E. Tormo, Las Iglesias del antiguo Madrid (1927).