Puerta de la Ilustración
Puerta de la Ilustración, designed in 1984 and inaugurated in 1990, is the work of sculptor Andreu Alfaro (Valencia 1929). It was awarded a prize by Madrid City Council (the Urbanism, Architecture and Public Works Prize, 1990).
One of the city’s urban monuments, along with the emblematic La Vaguada and the famous shopping centre designed by the Canary Island artist César Manrique, it is inextricably linked to the origin and development of the project to create a major thoroughfare on the western edge of Madrid, Avenida de la Ilustración.
The monumental gateway (23 metres high, 84 metres long and 33 metres wide) is a stainless steel triumphal arch that symbolically commemorates the meeting of the contemporary city and the necessary coexistence with the homes of its citizens, to become, in the words of its sculptor, “a sculpture square”, the “new symbol of Madrid”.
Updated: 30/10/2025
Useful information
Permit procedure
The filming permits to shoot on the streets of the city of Madrid are managed by the Filming Authorization Bureau. For more information on these permits and how to process them, read the How to film in Madrid page.
