All rights reservedFranchini, Teresa2024-08-212024-08-212010978-83-7493-570-8https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/1877Book of proceedings: Urban change : The prospect of transformationThe historic centre of Madrid is the result of a process of urban evolution over eleven centuries. With an area of approximately 400 hectares it is one of the biggest historic centres in Europe. The ancient tissue of the city has maintained the status of a neuralgic hub throughout its existence, bringing together Madrid’s most important buildings and its most dynamic activities. The maintenance of this built heritage was not an object of interest, either for the government or for individuals until the mid 1970s, when the level of architectural, urban, social and environmental deterioration forced the Municipality of Madrid to take measures for its conservation and rehabilitation. Although since 1926 a national Decree was in force which regulates the protection of the cultural heritage, including the environment and, in specific cases, historic zones, the few public interventions made in the centre of Madrid were directed only to the preservation of some unique historic and artistic monuments, such as the Church of San Antonio de la Florida, declared national monument in 1905 to protect the dome painted by Goya, or the remains of the Moorish walls that protected the original city in 1954.EnglishopenAccessconferenceObject34-37