The "Open for Restoration" program, promoted by the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Madrid City Council, invites local residents and foreigners who visit Madrid to climb to the top of the Puerta de Alcalá.

This historical and emblematic monument located in the well-known Alcalá street of the Spanish capital is in a phase prior to its full restoration. For this reason and seeking to raise public awareness of the importance of preserving cultural assets, the organization has made 5,200 slots available to those interested in participating in this new experience. In less than 10 minutes, all the tickets were sold out.

The visit to the upper part of the Puerta de Alcalá will require walking on scaffolding. People will be accompanied at all times by a guide. The tour of the perimeter area of ​​the gate lasts 50 minutes.

This experience allows people to discover this emblematic monument of Madrid and have views of the well-known Alcalá Street to Cibeles.

The visits to the upper part of the Puerta de Alcalá began the last weekend of July and will continue until Oct. 2. Those people who could not get any tickets, may have the opportunity to repeat the experience in 2023 when the restoration begins.

La Puerta de Alcalá

Designed by Italian architect Francesco Sabatini in 1778, this triumphal gate was once the main entrance to the city of Madrid. It was commissioned by King Charles III, who was unimpressed by the gate that welcomed him when he first arrived in 1759. It is situated next to El Retiro Park in the center of Plaza de la Independencia, a junction for three of the city’s most well-known streets: Calle de Alcalá, the city’s longest road, Calle de Alfonso XII, which leads to Atocha train station, and Calle de Serrano, Madrid’s most glamorous thoroughfare.

Puerta de Alcalá is a neoclassical triumphal arch made of granite. It was the first of its kind to be built after the fall of the Roman Empire, making it even older than Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Unlike the smaller Puerta de Toledo and Puerta de San Vicente gates, which are also located in the center of the city, Puerta de Alcalá has a total of five arches, not three.