Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid)

Círculo de Bellas Artes is the name given to the building located at the confluence of Calle de Alcalá and Gran Vía in Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain, home of the Círculo de Bellas Artes.

It is the work of architect Antonio Palacios Ramilo and was built in the early 1920s.

In addition to the Círculo de Bellas Artes, throughout its history the building has been the headquarters of other institutions. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, a detention center belonging to the Provincial Committee of Public Investigation (CPIP) was installed in its basement. After the end of the war, it housed the headquarters of the Falange Foreign Service for some time, before recovering its original function.

It was declared a national historical-artistic monument in 1981. Today the property is considered an Asset of Cultural Interest, forming part of the so-called Landscape of Light, a cultural landscape declared a World Heritage Site on July 25, 2021.

Its interior corresponds to the difficulty of combining the various uses of the Circle, social and administrative, presenting complex sections, with large rooms, and administrative or service areas located on lower mezzanines, like the section of an ocean liner of the time. On its main floor there is the ballroom, directly connected to the theater, called Fernando de Rojas, allowing a succession of routes and the use of very interesting spaces. Some of its rooms are named after prominent figures in the Spanish arts, such as the Valle-Inclán, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, María Moliner, María Zambrano, Antonio Palacios rooms.

Among its main art offers: Teatro Bellas Artes and Cine Estudio.