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A visit around Las Ventas bullring

Every year as the bullfighting season comes around, the Plaza Monumental de Las Ventas is filled to its 23,798-seat capacity with fans applauding the bravery of the matadors. In order to discover  the place, sign up for the Las Ventas Tour, a guided visit around the entire building that offers a glimpse into the many hidden corners of this magnificent arena and provides visitors with interesting facts about the history and legend of the art of bullfighting.

While the staff at Las Ventas are making sure that everything is ready for the afternoon's bullfighting session, visitors gather in the patio de caballos (horse courtyard), the departure point for Las Ventas Tour. All year round, from Tuesday to Sunday fans have the chance to take a close look at the world's most important bullring.

Getting closer to the world of the bulls

The patio de caballos houses the stables and the Museo Taurino (Bullfighting Museum), and it is also the site of the Mexican-style chapel where the bullfighters ask their patron saints for protection before entering the arena. The chapel contains a striking altar dedicated to the Virgin of La Paloma and the Virgin of Guadalupe -who is said to have been the patron of Madrid until the colonists took her with them to America-, and is filled with religious images and cards left by the matadors themselves.

Passing through the Puerta de Caballos (Horse Gate) we find the hospital with its two operating rooms and facilities for up to twelve doctors, offering instant and effective medical treatment for any potential injuries that may occur during the course of a bullfight.

The tour then moves towards the arena itself, pausing at the Puerta de Cuadrillas (bullfighting team gate) to gain a sense of the nerves that the bullfighters will be feeling as they prepare to enter the fray.

A series of panels hung with large photos offer visitors a sense of what it must be like for the matadors and their companions as they line up for the grand procession that will take them out before an expectant public.

Led by the alguaciles (event's officials), the matadors appear in the arena surrounded by their respective teams of assistants (three banderilleros and two picadores), the monosabios, areneros and mulilleros, knowing that there is now no way back.              

Stepping out into the arena

The group finally emerges into the arena, though they still only see it from behind the outer edge. From this privileged position, they observe details that they will not normally be able to see from the stands, such as the fact that the arena itself is some 30 cm higher in the centre than at the sides so that water does not collect when it is raining.

Walking around the edge of the arena (which measures 60 metres across), the curious can look over into the curved passageway that links the arena with the hospital, the lowest tiers reserved for VIPs and the bullring's staff, the bullpens and the Puerta de Arrastre, which leads to the abattoir where the dead bulls' flesh is carved up ready for sale to different restaurants.

Visitors can then finally step out into the ring, go and stand behind one of the four protective barriers arranged around the arena, or gain a feel for one of the instruments used in this traditional art such as the sword or the cape. They will perhaps then feel the thrill felt by the matadors as they face up to a bull weighing anything up to 600 kilograms.

It is from behind the protective barriers that the matador's team weigh up the spirit of the bull they are facing, tempting him with the cape to assess the fierceness of his charge -if done with the head down this is perceived as a sign of nobility-. The wood from which these barriers are constructed suffers such a pounding from the bulls' horns that it has to be replaced almost every week.

The Las Ventas Tour group's trip round the arena ends in the way that all matadors dream of: their moment of glory in Las Ventas crowned by leaving through the Puerta Grande (Grand Gate). The number of matadors who have enjoyed the honour of being carried high on the shoulders of their teams through this gate is not as high as one would imagine, as shown in the panel listing the names of all those who have achieved it. 

Another tiled panel celebrates the inauguration of the arena in 1931, alongside a number of commemorative plaques dedicated to master matadors like Bienvenida and Manolete and mounted bullfighters such as Álvaro Domecq Diez. 

A panoramic view of the arena and its surroundings

The panoramic views that can be seen from the different sections and tiers of the bullring provide the backdrop while visitors learn about the world of bullfighting, its history, evolution and central characters.

Although the Palco Real (Royal Box) remains closed -the Royal Family keep the keys themselves-, visitors enjoy a close-up look at its Arabesque features along with the official boxes that line it on either side. While touring these boxes, they are treated to an explanation of the different codes and rituals involved in an afternoon's bullfighting.

The guide tells them about each of the handkerchiefs that the President waves (each colour indicates a different order, such as the award of trophies or a change from one stage of the fight to another), the different sections into which a bullfight is divided and the amount of time awarded to the matador for each stage.

Walking along the tiers of public seating, where cushions are laid out to dry before the next bullfight, visitors come to the outer perimeter where they can look out onto the open area surrounding the arena. On bullfight days, this space will be busy with fans buying tickets and watching the ceremony for the selection of the bulls that are to appear, held at noon on the day of the event.

The balconies of Las Ventas offer a better view of the arena's architecture with its Mozarabic style and hand-painted tiles, and they also offer visitors the chance to see some of the many sculptures mounted around the exterior of the building, representing people or events that have been particularly significant during the arena's history.

One of these shows a matador dedicating a bull to Dr Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin, commemorating the fact that before he made his discovery more bullfighters died from infections than from the wounds that they originally suffered.

The Las Ventas Tour ends at the souvenir shop where visitors can find all kinds of mementos of their trip, from a simple key ring to a bull's head or an authentic bullfighter's costume.

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