Edificio Metrópolis

You'll find one of Madrid's most famous (and most beautiful) buildings on the corner of C/Alcalá with Gran Vía. The Metrópolis Building was inaugurated in 1911 by the company La Unión and Fénix, which would sell it in the 1970s to insurance company Metrópolis, which is where it got its current name. Its slate dome with reliefs covered in more than 30,000 24-carat gold loaves of bread is one of the symbols of Madrid. Fun fact: the winged victory statue that crowns the building today is not the original; it replaced a bronze phoenix that the original owners took with them when they left. It's worth heading over to gaze at the building at dusk to see the whole thing illuminated by more than 200 lights.