Las Ventas Bullring

Tours and guided visits related to Las Ventas bullring in Madrid

The Plaza de Toros de las Ventas, in addition to being the quintessential bullring in Madrid, is also an important monument of historical and artistic heritage in itself. It is a complex built in the year 1929, over the site of Las Ventas de Espíritu Santo, from which it takes its name.

The plaza was built in Neo-mudejar style, the architecture considered the most Spanish of all since it is a style that only occurs on the peninsula. Therefore many bullrings are built in this style.

Las Ventas is the largest bullring in Spain with a capacity of nearly 24,000 people. Only La Monumental de México and Venezuela’s Valencia exceed this capacity. As the arena where bullfights are held, its 60 metre diameter is exceeded only by the width of the Plaza de Toros in Ronda.

Monumentally, in addition to its brick architecture decorated with glazed ceramic, it also has an outstanding sculptural repertoire, with statues of bullfighters who achieved great feats in Madrid, like Yiyo or Luis Miguel Dominguín. And there is also a monument to the doctor Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, the benefits of which the bullfighters also owe a great debt of gratitude.

The Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas is the great bullring in Spain, where the figures of bullfighting are enshrined. Therefore, fans of this art and all the Spanish or foreign people who want to know more about this tradition flock here. Guided tours are conducted through its most iconic areas, such as the arena, the Great Gate, the Royal Box and the Presidential Box, in addition to climbing up to the terrace to see the plaza in full.

And of course, it is reminiscent of some of the many celebrities of the art that have passed through here, like Ava Gardner, Orson Welles or Ernest Hemingway.

Indeed, in the artistic field it must be noted that in the hallway there is a room of temporary art exhibitions, where work of brilliant painters like Picasso or Goya have been hung.