Basilica of Nuestra Señora de Atocha
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Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
on the avenue of the Ciudad de Barcelona, #3.
It is one of the three basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
churches in Madrid, alongside the Basilica of Our Father Jesús de Medinaceli
Basilica of Our Father Jesús de Medinaceli, Madrid
The Basilica of Our Father Jesus de Medinaceli or the Basílica de nuestro Padre Jesús de Medinaceli is a Roman Catholic church, specifically a basilica, located in central Madrid.The church was consecrated in 1930...
and San Francisco el Grande
San Francisco el Grande Basilica, Madrid
The Royal Basilica of San Francisco el Grande is a Roman Catholic church in central Madrid, Spain, located in the Barrio of La Latina. The main façade faces the Plaza of San Francisco, at the intersection of Bailén, the Gran Vía de san Francisco, and the Carrera de san Francisco...
.
The buildings on the site have a long history. The original name refers to a lost icon from a chapel which was found among some high grasses, (called Tocha) during the time of the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
. The old church was in disrepair and rebuilt in the 1890's in a Neo-Byzantine
Neo-Byzantine architecture
The Byzantine Revival was an architectural revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It emerged in 1840s in Western Europe and peaked in the last quarter of 19th century in the Russian Empire; an isolated Neo-Byzantine school was active in Yugoslavia...
style designed by Fernando Arbós y Tremanti.
The church was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and reconstruction completed in 1951.
Adjacent to the church is the Pantheon of Illustrious Men
Pantheon of Illustrious Men
The Pantheon of Illustrious Men is a royal site in Madrid, under the administration of the Patrimonio Nacional. It was designed by Spanish architect Fernando Arbós y Tremanti, and is located in Basilica of Nuestra Señora de Atocha in the Retiro section of Madrid.The pantheon houses the tombs of a...
or Panteón de Hombres Ilustres of Madrid. It holds the remains of only a former president of the council of ministers, José Canalejas
José Canalejas
José Canalejas y Méndez was a Spanish politician, born in Ferrol.-Early life:Canalejas graduated in 1871 from the University of Madrid, took his Galicia doctor's degree in 1872 and became a lecturer on literature in 1873...
, however it also contains a number of interesting monuments from and just after the turn of the 19th century.