Once upon a time in Madrid a conventional granny at the age of 70 decided to go for a rock concert with her grandson. Though she had known about rock music before, but her first visit to a rock concert changed her life forever. She then became popular by the name ‘La Abuela Rockera' (The Rocker Grandma) and an icon of Madrid's 1980s rock scene. She featured in several radio and tv shows with her image featuring on cover of a rock and metal album. After her death, a few years later in 1999, artist Carmen Jorba created a bronze sculpture of the rocker grandma similar to her image from the Panzer album. The sculpture is situated in the neighborhood of Vallecas and metal fans must pay tribute to an unexpected pop culture personality.
Het staat bekend als 'de longen van Madrid', en maar een paar steden hebben zo'n groot park (118 hectaren) op zo'n centrale plek. Er is een groot roeimeer en het park heeft drie kunstgalerieën (Casa de Vacas, Palacio de Cristal en Palacio de Velázquez ). Tijdens de weekenden en de vakanties stikt het er van de madrileños (inwoners van Madrid) en artiesten van allerlei pluimage, zoals mimespelers en jongleurs, schilders, zangers, en poppenspelers en waarzeggers. Het werd gebouwd als een koninklijk park in de 17e eeuw, en tot 1868 was het exclusief voor de aristocratie.
This gallery promotes modern contemporary Spanish painters and sculptors belonging to the Paris School, like Bores, Cossío and Palencia. There's also always space for the works of the popular El Paso group and members of the Madrid School. You're likely to see art by young realist painters of the calibre of Roberto González, César Luengo and Clara Gangutia. Their catalogue includes pieces by famous names (Picasso, María Blanchard, Gutiérrez Solana and Zuloaga) and examples of post-civil war realism, informalism and abstracts by Millares, Lucio Muñoz, Feito and Saura.
This park stands at the foot of what was once an Arab fortress, now the Royal Palace. It was where the Moorish troops set up their war camp and from where they fought furiously against the Christian army during the reconquest of Spain, hence the name: Campo del Moro (Moorish Camp). The simple green space was later converted into a romantic garden, and despite getting rid of many ancient trees to create the lawn, there are still many proud old pines, oaks, yews and a huge redwood.