Walls of Philip IV

These were not defensive walls, but essentially served fiscal and surveillance purposes: to control the access of goods to the city, ensure the collection of taxes, and to monitor who went in and out of Madrid.

The idea of new walls started in 1614 and the project was commissioned to Juan Gómez de Mora, chief architect of the king and of the City Council.

Its biggest drawback was that it prevented the city's growth, thereby keeping its population in overcrowded conditions for over two hundred years.

[2] The new walls were about thirteen kilometers long and enclosed an area of 500 hectares, of which more than 150 belonged to the Buen Retiro Royal Site.

[2] This area includes all present-day Centro district plus Buen Retiro Park and the Los Jerónimos neighbourhood.

The Directorate General of Heritage of the Community of Madrid ordered the reconstruction of this section, but it was carried out without using the original materials.

These facts have led to the inclusion of the Cornisa park on the Hispania Nostra association's "Red List" of endangered heritage sites.

Madrid with its walls (red line) in 1831.
Plan of the Walls of Philip IV, with gates and portillos, published in 1847 in the Semanario Pintoresco Español .
Photograph by J. Laurent of the Gate of Toledo in 1865. On either side of the gate the walls that still surrounded Madrid at that time can be seen.
Location of part of the remains.