Placa Puerta Cerrada

Plaza Puerta Cerrada is located in the historic Palacio district in the center of Madrid. The name recalls a medieval city gate that stood in the Christian city wall and was torn down in 1569, when the wife of Philip II, Elisabeth of Valois, entered the city. Because of its unsafe location, the gate was originally also known as the "Gate of the Dragon" or the "Serpent Gate." Today the square forms an irregular intersection of several old lanes such as Cava Baja and Calle de San Justo, and to the east it merges into Plaza de Segovia Nueva.

The architecture of the surrounding area is dominated by buildings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the Archbishop's Palace, built in the eighteenth century. At house numbers four and six, fragments of the old city wall are still integrated into the facades, though they are not visible to visitors. In the center of the square stands a stone cross from 1783, which survived as one of the few of its kind after the mayor of the time ordered the removal of such obstacles in 1805.

A special feature is the large-scale murals and trompe-l'oeil motifs on the facades, created in 1983 under Mayor Enrique Tierno Galván. This artistic intervention was meant to beautify the open light wells that had been created by demolition work in the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, some of these works, including some by the well-known artist Alberto Corazón, have disappeared over time.