In case you couldn't tell, the last picture in the previous post fulfilled this requirement, but just to make sure, Aubs and I took one together.
Gran Vía is one of the most important (shopping) streets in Madrid, and it was actually created specifically for that purpose. Back around 1910, the people (read: upper class) of Madrid decided that the city needed a project that would bring it more in line with the values of Northern Europe (capitalism). So the powers that be tore out a poorer neighborhood and replaced it with a wide avenue, suitable for cars (when probably less than 1% of the population owned a car) and lined with theaters and shops (especially jewelry shops).
It was Madrid's playground for the rich for quite awhile, and even if most of the theaters and jewelry stores are gone (one jewelry store got replaced by a McDonald's and a theater by an H&M), the glamorous architecture remains.
It's one of my favorite streets in Madrid, mostly because of the paradox that demonstrates: at a time when Spain had basically no world power (in 1910, most Spaniards were still reeling from the loss of the empire in 1898), Spain's ruling class specifically decides that what is needed is a construction project designed to give off the illusion of such power.
Gran Vía is really quite grand. But it's also a façade. And that's why I find it fascinating.
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