Next week the works will be approved for a project that will significantly modify one of the most emblematic places of the capital: the creation of a boulevard between Plaza de Cibeles and Puerta de Alcalá. This was announced this Monday, September 8, by José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of the capital, during his speech at the Extraordinary Plenary Session of the State of the City Debate.
The project, included in the budgets approved in November last year, will entail a comprehensive remodeling of the Landscape of Light, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2021.
That recognition – as we will explain in more detail throughout the article – has been decisive – if not the driving force – behind the reform: “It will be developed respecting the values of authenticity, integrity and universality for which Unesco recognized this space,” in the words of the capital consistory.
The remodeling, by sections
The works will be carried out in different phases and will begin on the north and south flanks, according to the information already detailed in 2024, and are in addition to others in the area such as the restoration of the Puerta de Alcalá, winner of the European Heritage Award/Europa Nostra Award (European Heritage Award).
Alcalá Street
In order to give “the Puerta de Alcalá area the importance it deserves”, a boulevard will be added “to enhance the value of this great symbol of the city”.
In order to incorporate this new 7.5-meter pedestrian median, car lanes will be eliminated, so that they will be reduced to two in both directions. On the other hand, the bus lane will be maintained and the bicycle lane will also gain space.
Charles V and the Pantheon of Spain (Pantheon of Illustrious Men)
Once the subway works of the Community of Madrid and ADIF have been completed in the area between the Glorieta de Carlos V and the Pantheon of Spain -those of Metro Line 11-, improvements will also be made in this section.
For its part, the great cultural nucleus of the Landscape of Light, formed by the Paseo del Prado, will be refurbished in later phases in accordance with the standards for which Unesco recognized this space as a World Heritage Site.
The road to Unesco
Of course, obtaining this recognition has not been easy: behind it there have been years of preparation of the candidacy and the main reason that made its inclusion in the list falter was the pollution of the area.
This was stated in the report that the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos), an organization that advises Unesco, sent to the Ministry of Culture and to which elDiario.es had access at the time: “Air pollution, mainly caused by private motor vehicles, is the most important factor affecting the candidate property“.
Hence the importance – the need – to reduce pollution in that area as part of the conservation of this valuable ensemble, bearing in mind that since it is a protected area all projects to be carried out need the approval of the Local Heritage Commission and of Unesco.
Not only maintenance and conservation are fundamental, but also the dissemination, research and management of the property. In this sense, improvements have been carried out (such as the restoration of the Monument to Alfonso XII) and novelties have been implemented (such as the creation of an Interpretation Center).
Nevertheless, El Salto reflected the disagreement of the Civic and Social Council -born during the candidacy and composed of more than a hundred entities and people with legitimate interest in the Landscape- before actions and activities that they considered inappropriate, such as “the Formula 1 exhibition that the Community of Madrid organized in an area considered Heritage” or the controversial project of macro-parking under the Niño Jesús Hospital of the Community of Madrid.
When Alcalá Street already had a boulevard
When these works are finished, a stretch of Alcalá street will once again have a boulevard, and there will be those who remember the picture shown in the photographs shared by Tina Paterson in X a few years ago: then the sidewalks were considerably wider and were doubly wooded. A space that, over time, has been reduced for pedestrians in favor of cars and asphalt.
Although the proposal that will now transform part of this protected environment is an improvement (in terms of space gained for pedestrians, improved bike lanes and tree planting), Antonio Giraldo -urbanist and Spokesman for Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the PSOE in the Madrid City Council- pointed out in 2024 some aspects of the project that could be improved.
Among them, that probably installing a tree-lined boulevard in the planned section would impede the view “and the play of perspectives between two monuments”, one of the main virtues of the street. In his opinion, moreover, the change should be more ambitious: in that sense he proposed the Paseo de Alcalá, a great pedestrianization of the surroundings.
Such a project would turn the area into the largest pedestrian street in Madrid (with 32,000 square meters), while requiring a profound change in the organization of traffic and the integration of the Retiro into the Low Emission Zone.