Las+Ventas

This page has been created by Andrea Ors and María Rodriguez. toc

Introduction
The Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas is a famous bullring in Madrid and is the bisggest one of Spain and the third biggest one of the world after the ones in Mexico and Venezuela. It is situated in the neighborhodd of La Guindalera.

It was inaguareted the 17 of June of 1931. It was designed by the architec José Espeliú and it is of Neo-Mudejar style with pottery representations of the heraldic crests of the different provinces in Madrid.

It has a capicity for 23.798 spectators and has 61.5 meters of diameter.

The bulls season begins in March and ends in October. There are bullfights all the days during the Feria de San Isidro from the beginning of May until its end.



History
From 1913 to 1920, the national celebration (bullfighting) gained such an important status that Madrid's former main bullring in was not big enough. It was José Gómez Ortega, better known as Joselito ,who declared that a new "monumental" bullring had to be built in Madrid to enrich thwe city. His friend and architect José Espeliu began to work on the project. The construction of the bullring would cost 12 million pesetas, and it would replace the old bullring, dating from 1874.

"Las Ventas" was finished in 1929 and two years later, June 17, 1931, a charity bullfight was held with a full capacity crowd to inaugurate it. Bullfighting stopped during the Spanish Civil War and did not resume until May 1939.

Division
"Las Ventas" is divided in a ring or "arena", and a group of zones called "patios". The "arena" has a diameter of 60 meters. The seating capacity is divided into 10 "tendidos" (group of 27 rows around the "arena"), some of them in the shade and the rest in the sun. The prices of the tickets are more expensive in the shade and in the rows which are nearer to the "arena". The president of the 'corrida' sits in the 10th Tendido. The Royal Box is of outstanding design, a complete bathroom and a lift. Opposite to the Royal Box, in the covered grandstand roof, is the clock. The bullring has five gates, plus three more called "toriles", from where the bulls enter the arena. The door of "cuadrillas", between "tendidos" 3 and 4, has access to the horse yard. In this door, the "paseillo" starts and the "picadores"(those who punish the bull with the lance) come out from here to the arena. The dragging door, that leads to the skinning room, is between "tendidos" 1 and 2. The famous "Puerta Grande" (Big Door), also called the Door of Madrid, is between "tendidos" 7 and 8. Going out through this door, especially during the Fiesta of San Isidro, is every bullfighter's ambition. There is also a chapel and a small sick bay with two operating rooms.