It stands near the city center and several meters away from the main entrance to the Parque del Buen Retiro.

Its name originates from the old path from Madrid to the nearby town of Alcalá de Henares.

Madrid in the late 18th century still looked like a somewhat drab borough, surrounded by medieval walls.

Around the year 1774, King Charles III commissioned Francesco Sabatini to construct a monumental gate in the city wall through which an expanded road to the city of Alcalá was to pass, replacing an older, smaller, gate that stood nearby.

The ornamental details were sculpted by Francisco Gutiérrez and Roberto Michel [es], and made of white stone from Colmenar.