It started with a modest market at the same location outside the city walls in the Middle Ages. It was called Plaza del Arrabal at the time and, later on – sailing on the winds of history – Plaza de la Constitución, Plaza Real and Plaza de la República. But it has always been known by the locals as the ‘main square’ – Plaza Mayor. King Philip the Fair considered it a shambles and ordered court architect Juan de Herrera to completely renovate the entire square with the Casa de la Panadería (Bakery House), richly adorned with frescoes, as its pièce de résistance. After a series of city fires, the square gained its current form: rectangular in shape with gates on all sides, two perky towers across one another, and fringed with four-storey red ochre buildings. The people of Madrid could also watch the public executions and bullfights from one of the 237 wrought-iron balconies overlooking the square.