Las Ventas in Madrid

Plaza de Las Ventas is a famous bullring located in the Spanish capital. It was built in the 1920s, at a time when bullfighting gained such popularity with residents of the city that the earlier bullring at Carretera de Aragon simply couldn’t hold all the spectators.

The new venue was designed by Jose Espeliu in the elaborate Mudejar style featuring pottery decorations. Las Ventas is divided into the ring proper, featuring 60 metres of diameter, and tendidos, groups of 10 rows around the arena. Seat prices depend on how close to the ring the seat is located and on whether it’s situated in the shade or the sun. Between the seventh and eighth tendido, there’s Puerta Grande, ‘the big door’, through which exit matadors who successfully conclude the fight. The bullfighting season begins in Madrid in May, during the Fiesta of San Isidro, and lasts until December.