Alcala Gate, located in the heart of Madrid, on Independence Square next to the Retiro Park, is one of the major monuments of the city.

First Gate of Alcala were built in 1598 by order of King Philip III in honor of the arrival in Madrid of his wife Queen Margaret of Austria. The composition of the first gate consisted of central arch, decorated with a stone on top of the statue of Our Lady, and small outbuildings on both sides of it. Alcalá Gate was one of the main gates in Madrid, all of the gate were five.

After nearly two centuries, in 1769, King Charles III decides to demolish the old gate, erecting in their place a new, wider and grander than the previous ones, which had become a symbol of the renewed Madrid. A large number of well-known architects of the time took up the drafting of the new monument. But in the end I won the project of architect Francesco Sabatini. The opening of the new gate in the guise that mixes two styles - baroque and classicism, took place in 1778.

The gate is a structure of granite stone with five spans, with three central span - a semicircular arches and two lateral - rectangular. The facades of buildings are decorated with pilasters, columns, sculptures of lions' heads and the four virtues - wisdom, justice, courage and moderation. Above the central arch bears the inscription «Rege Carolo III. Anno MDCCLXXVIII », which translates from the Latin as" King Charles III, 1778 ".