MADRID, ma-drid' (Sp. ma-dred'), Spain, the capital of the kingdom and of the province of Madrid, a part of New Castile, situated near the centre of the country, on the left bank of the Manzanares, a sub-affluent of the Tagus. It is built on several low and irregular sand hills on a plateau 2,140 feet above sea-level, and is surrounded by a barren and extensive plain, treeless save in the vicinity of the city, and stretching northward to the snow-capped Sierra de Guadarrama. In winter the climate is ex ceedingly severe, and even in summer, when the heat is excessive, piercingly cold blasts descend from the mountains. The prevailing winds are the parching southeast Solano, and the icy north wind from the Guadarrama. The climate is de scribed in a Spanish proverb as ((three month of winter and nine months of hell.* The tem perature ranges from 18° to 105° F.; is subjea to frequent and sudden changes; and between the sunny and shady sides of a street the dif ference of temperature is sometimes as great as 20°. Madrid was until recently surrounded by a wall 20 feet high, pierced by 5 large and 11 small gates; of these gates 3 remain: the Puerta de Alcala on the east, the Puerta de Toledo on the south, and the Portillo de San Vicente on the west. The streets are tributed somewhat irregularly around the Puerta del Sol, which is in the centre of the capital. The principal streets are broad, long and airy; and the houses are in general well substantial and of good appearance.
In common with most European Madrid has undergone much modern ment ; the streets are traversed by electric and horse car lines; are lighted by gas and elec tricity; the telephone system is efficient; and sanitation has been much improved. The former abundant and pure water supply, is, inadequate to the demands of the growing lation. Madrid has no edifices of great antiq uity. The royal palace, situated at the western extremity of Madrid, is one of the most mag nificent in the world. It occupies the site of the original Alcazar (castle) of the Moors, and is of enormous extent, being 470 feet each way, and 100 feet high. The architecture is a com bination of Ionic and Doric. It contains a sitall but splendid Corinthian chapel, and a librarY of nearly 100,000 volumes, and the armory is one of the finest in the world. The Chamber of Deputies, which occupies an area of square feet, has a hexastyle Corinthian porticoon the grand façade, destined for the entrance of royalty on state occasions. On the two lateral facades are the entrances for the nitro; bers. The Royal Exchange and the Bank Spain are two modern imposing buildings.
Madrid stands far behind many provincial towns as regards its churches, which are, with exception of a few attached to conventual es tablishments, poor and of indifferent artistic merit. The church of San Jeronimo el Grande is probably the most distinctive. The most im portant of the charitable institutions are the military hospital, an extensive building in the northwestern corner of the city; and the Hos picio of San Fernando, with schools for both sexes, the pupils being taught various handi crafts. At the southeastern corner of the city stands the general hospital. There are also hospitals for orphans and for foundlings, and numerous charities, mainly of a religious kind.
Madrid has 72 public squares, which are generally irregular both as regards their form and their edifices, as well as deficient in decor ative monuments. Of these the Plaza Mayor is one of the largest and most regular. The Plaza de Oriente is adorned with 40 statues of Gothic kings, as well as those of the Asturias, Leon, Castile and Aragon. In the centre is a fine equestrian statue of Philip IV. Among places of amusement the most popular is the Plaza de Toros (bull-ring), a building which is about 1,100 feet in circumference, and capable of con taining 12,000 spectators. The Prado, a sort of wide boulevard, about two miles long, run ning north and south on the east of the city, is the chief promenade, and beyond it is the chief public park, including the Buen Retiro gardens, near which are the new handsome building for various ministerial departments and the new station of the Southern Railway Company. The Royal Picture Gallery which stands in the Pra do contains more than 2,000 pictures, including a great many by all the best masters, especially those of Spain. There are also good pictures in the Academy of Fine Arts. The National Library, founded by Philip V, contains 650,000 volumes. The Library of San Isidoro consists of 66,000 volumes. The University of Madrid (the most important in Spain) which arose out of that of Alcala de Henares, founded in the 15th century, has an average attendance of 5,000 students. There are besides numerous other schools, academies and colleges, public and private, including a normal school, a deaf and dumb institution, a normal school for the blind, a commercial school, schools for engineers, a conservatory of music, an academy for the fine arts with a picture gallery, a vecerinary college, an academy of medicine and surgery, etc. The famous monistical and palatial Escorial (q.v.) is 27 miles northwest of the city.