The Puerta del Sol public square is in Madrid, Spain’s capital. Its name means “Gate of the Sun” and recalls a medieval city gate reportedly oriented toward the rising sun.
Today, the square is one of Madrid’s best-known meeting places and a major transport hub. It contains the clock atop the former House of the Post Office, whose midnight chimes help mark Spain’s famous New Year’s Eve tradition of eating twelve grapes—one with each bell.
Puerta del Sol also marks Kilometre Zero, the reference point for measuring Spain’s six principal radial roads. The nearby statue of a bear and a strawberry tree represents Madrid’s municipal coat of arms.
A common mix-up is with Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, another famous central square located only a short walk away. Puerta del Sol is the more important symbolic crossroads, while Plaza Mayor is the larger, more architecturally uniform historic plaza.