Madrid Home history

The date is remembered as a national holiday, but France continued to rule Spain until the war ended in 1814 with the victory of the Spanish army and guerillas, aided by British troops.

In 1851, the first train departed from Atocha station on its way to Aranjuez.

In 1861, the Castro Plan, more commonly known as the Ensanche (the widening), was formally adopted to guide the city's growth.

In 1919 the city inaugurated the underground metro's first line.

By 1930, nearly one million people had moved into the city.

In 1931, Spain became a Republic; soon after that, the nation was divided by civil war.

A coalition of leftist parties that had narrowly won the 1936 elections and politically moderate Spaniards supported the continuation of the Republic.

With King Juan Carlos (1938–) leading the way, Spain embarked on a democratization process that affected every institution in the country.

Santiago Bernabeu circa 1946

In 1955, the Santiago Bernabéu underwent its first major transformation, in which, they increased their capacity to 125,000 spectators, becoming the largest stadium in the newly created European Champions League.

In May of 1957, the lighting of the Santiago Bernabéu was unveiled for the first night time game in the history of the stadium.

The stadium hosted the final of the European Championship of 1964 between Spain and the Soviet Union.

In 1982, the Santiago Bernabéu underwent another series of structural changes because it was going to host 4 FIFA World Cup matches.

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the stadium, in the summer of 1997 stadium seats are renewed and installed in those areas that did not yet have them, in application of the new restrictive UEFA regulations, lowering the capacity of the stadium from 106,000 to 74,328 spectators.

In February 2006, the Madrid Historical Society acquired an old farm house to use as a museum.