The square was developed as a symbol of national greatness; its imposing buildings intended to show how Spain was becoming part of the modern world.

The top of the square at the Gran Via end is dominated by the massive bulk of the Edificio Espana, one of Madrid’s signature buildings. The revolutionary building was intended to be a self-contained urban complex, containing offices, apartments, restaurants, stores, a hotel, and a rooftop swimming pool. The hotel, which occupies a third of the building, is now part of the Grand Plaza group.

In the centre of the square, there is a monument to Miguel de Cervantes, designed and built between 1925 and 1930 by the architects Rafael Martinez Zapatero and Pedro Muguruza. A stone figure of Cervantes, seated and holding a book, presides over the monuments, with bronze figures of Don Quixote on his horse and Sancho on his donkey in front of the great writer.