90 years of Las Ventas

The Las Ventas bullring opened its doors for the first time on June 17, 1931, two months after the proclamation of the Second Republic. The inaugural celebration was a bullfight for the benefit of unemployed workers organized by the socialist mayor Pedro Rico, which was attended, among other authorities, by President Alcalá Zamora. As it appeared on the poster decorated with the tricolor flag, eight matadors made that walk to stab bulls from different breeds: "Hortelano", by Juan Pedro Domecq, became the first to jump into the ring, where he was fought by Diego Mazquiarán "Fortuna ".

In reality, this celebration of 1931 and two others of 1933 were carried out with excessive precipitation, since the works of the Monumental were not finished and the conditioning works of the surroundings, through which the Abroñigal stream passed, had not been completed. .

Although the festivities did not continue until 1934, it is estimated that, in these 90 years of life, around six thousand bullfighting shows have been held in Las Ventas.

On October 21, 1934, Juan Belmonte made the paseíllo, for the first time, in the Las Ventas bullring. Waiting in the gang tunnel for the call of bugles and kettledrums, Pasmo de Triana said he felt there the "spirit of Joselito", fatally wounded fourteen years earlier in the bullring of Talavera de la Reina by the bull "Bailaor". Belmonte explained that this new monumental plaza filled to the brim was, in a way, a creation of the ingenuity of “Joselito”, whom he gave time to discuss the plans for Las Ventas with its main architect, José Espeliú. The specific contributions that Gallito made to the original Espeliú model are a mystery, but without a doubt, his ideas were reflected in the project.

It was added, in addition, that in that "inauguration bullfight" that Belmonte stabbed, bulls from Murubens of Carmen de Federico were fought, a herd that was saved from going to the slaughterhouse thanks to "Joselito", also a visionary of how the bull he required should be. the new bullfighting, invented by himself and his partner Juan.

The passage of time has done justice to the figure of the youngest of the Rooster, already considered, unanimously, as "the first bullfighter of the twentieth century." His “spirit” - the one that Belmonte sensed in the Las Ventas gang tunnel - continued to guide the future of the Fiesta long after his death, and its influence continues to this day.

On April 2, 1936, in a bullfight held in the Las Ventas bullring, a woman made the walk for the first time: Juanita Cruz. A milestone that became part of the history of the Monumental Madrid and the modern history of bullfighting.

That historic afternoon shared a poster with Niño de la Estrella, Miguel Cirujeda and Félix Almagro who refused to alternate with her, so Juanita Cruz chose two cattle belonging to García Aleas's widow with more presence than those her companions dealt with and bullied them. first, one after the other. With his first he managed to turn the ring.

He could not perform in Madrid again because the Civil War broke out and he went into exile to America where he took the alternative in Fresnillo (Mexico) on March 17, 1940 at the hands of Heriberto García, cutting off two ears. He retired in 1946 in La Paz (Bolivia) without being able to perform in Spain again and died in Madrid on May 18, 1981, in the middle of the San Isidro Fair.

The Plaza de Las Ventas is the only one in the world where the music band does not play a single paso doble during the bullfight. All the great tasks are executed in silence. This custom began on May 24, 1939, the first bullfighting that was held in Madrid after the Civil War. In the square there was a strong brawl between the supporters of Marcial Lalanda and those of Domingo Ortega, who wanted the band to liven up their work as had happened with Lalanda. The anger was of such a caliber that, from then on, it was agreed that the music would stop playing in La Monumental.

On October 20, 1940, the founder and head of the German SS, Heinrich Himmler, who was also a prominent collaborator of Adolf Hitler and organizer of the Nazi Holocaust that killed millions of people, witnessed a bullfight that took place. held in the Las Ventas bullring.

Accompanied by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ramón Serrano Suñer, he attended the bullfight in which Marcial Lalanda, Rafael Ortega “Gallito” and Pepe Luis Vázquez participated, and a red poster announcing the celebration was published for the occasion. of the Nazi swastika.

The celebration began at a quarter past four in the afternoon, but after the death of the third bull it had to be suspended due to inclement weather. However, the German general, when asked for his opinion about what he witnessed in the ring, dared to affirm that "he had never attended such a bloody spectacle live".

The last time that Manuel Rodríguez "Manolete" made the walk in Las Ventas was during the hot afternoon of July 16, 1947, the charity run. Weeks later. he would lose his life in the Linares arena after the bull "Islero" from the Miura ranch crossed his path.

The chronicles say that the public of the Monumental was waiting for him and got involved with him, sending him several hurtful comments: It was about time you came to Madrid! The second of his lot, a rough and tame bull from Bohórquez, he defeated dry and wounded him in the left leg. "Manolete", however, continued his work while a trickle of blood ran down his calf staining the stocking. After entering to kill, he entered the infirmary in the square. Finally, the audience stood up and asked for his ears as a reward for their courage and honor.

On May 17, 1949, the right-hander Luis Miguel Dominguín starred in Las Ventas in a unique event that has become part of the history of both the Madrid Monument and modern bullfighting. That day the Madrid bullfighter proclaimed himself number 1 in bullfighting, a fact that was enthusiastically welcomed by his faithful followers, but with many signs of disapproval from his detractors.

That afternoon of the third edition of the San Isidro Fair, Luis Miguel Dominguín, who shared the bill with Luis Parra "Parrita" and Manolo González to face a closure of the Widow of Galache, was received very coldly by the crowded stands about the sales. After going around the ring to the death of his first enemy, with the quarter of the afternoon he orchestrated a task that infected the enthusiastic audience, despite not being finished off with the sword. However, he was granted the ear of his enemy and the right-hander going to the center of the ring pointed out with the index finger of his right hand that he was number 1 in bullfighting, which generated discussions in the rows of the square and a great controversy that would last for many years.

On October 6, 1957, the carpenter in the plaza Pablo Pérez Gómez died moments after he entered the Las Ventas infirmary, after being gored by the bull “Cedacero”, from the Flores Albarrán cattle ranch, who jumped into the alley and wounded mortally to this employee.

The bull came out of the pens in third place and was being dealt with with the cape by the right-handed Fermín Murillo. "Cedacero" came loose in one of the hauls and approached the planks between rows 6 and 7 and immediately jumped into the alley to mortally wound the unfortunate carpenter who could not protect himself in the interior burladeros because they were occupied by the public forces and the movement of the bull was very fast. Assisted in the infirmary of the square by the medical team of at least four gorings and multiple contusions, nothing could be done for his life, dying minutes later without being able to transfer to a hospital, since he died in the same operating room of the Nursing.

In its 90-year history, in the Las Ventas bullring there have only been five deaths by bull horn. The first, in 1939, was that of the bullfighter Félix Almagro, which was followed, two years later, by the matador Pascual Márquez, the banderilleros "El Coli" (1964) and "El Campeño" (1988) and that of the aforementioned carpenter. .

On April 19, 1959, the second concentric circumference was painted in the arena of Las Ventas, which complemented the meaning of the first, as stated in the bullfighting regulations prior to this date. And all this to establish criteria that must be observed when executing the fate of rods by the picadors on duty.

The first one, in the case of Las Ventas, is located 7 meters from the tables and its purpose is that the picadors do not exceed it when summoning the bulls to meet the horses to receive the corresponding punishment. with the quills The second, and more modern, has the objective that the fighters keep this mark in mind so that from there the bull starts to run into the chopping horses and the level of bravery of the bull can be verified, an aspect highly valued by the connoisseur and demanding fans of the Las Ventas bullring.

On June 16, 1960, the right-handed Antonio Bienvenida, perhaps the brother of the dynasty most loved by the fans of Madrid, starred in an unusual event in the history of the Plaza de Las Ventas, announcing himself alone to fight two bullfights in just half a day: one in the afternoon and one at night.

After dispatching the first one with bulls from different herds before an audience that occupied three quarters of the capacity of the bullring and an artistic result that was far from triumphant, the maestro Bienvenida, with hardly any rest, set out to fight a second bullfight in a placid and pleasant summer night hours later. However, he could not complete the feat because, after the death of the third horn, he had to be treated in the infirmary due to stiffness of the leg muscles. Despite the fact that Dr. Giménez Guinea and his medical team tried to physically restore the right-hander, he could not return to the ring and the three bulls had to be stabbed by the outstanding Antonio Mahillo who was forced to go around the ring.

On May 25, 1967, the Sevillian right-hander Curro Romero starred in an unusual event that has become part of the history of anecdotes from the Las Ventas bullring. That afternoon, the "Pharaoh of Camas" refused to kill the fifth bull of the afternoon, a sombrero from the Cortijoliva ranch, because according to the bullfighter the bull had already been bullfighted, so once the tercio was changed, he waited to hear the bugle to take refuge in the alley and wait for the passage of time.

After the appearance of the halters to remove the bull to the corrals, the president on duty ordered to arrest the right-hander and his driving to the dungeons of the General Directorate of Security in Puerta del Sol where he remained all night, leaving the premises at the next morning after paying a hefty fine.

In the afternoon, Curro Romero would star in Las Ventas in a totally opposite event, since alternating with Diego Puerta and Paco Camino, he left on the shoulders, together with his fellow poster, on the shoulders of the fans through the Puerta Grande of the Monumental in Madrid. It was a tremendous afternoon for the Sevillian right-hander who wrote a completely different page in the history of Las Ventas than the day before.

On the night of July 7 to 8, 1963, a few hours after the end of the bullfighting that had taken place in the Las Ventas bullring – a bullfight in which Amadeo dos Anjos, Agapito García “Serranito” and Gabino Aguilar- there was a spectacular fire at the facilities of the Monumental Madrid that caused serious damage to the infrastructure, but there was no personal misfortune to be regretted.

The first flames were detected in the volleys of lines XNUMX and XNUMX, just below the clock, and they quickly spread to other nearby towns due to the abundant pine wood with which these towns had been largely built. But the quick intervention of the firefighters with a crew of six tanks, fourteen fire engines and sixty agents prevented greater evils.

Very shortly after the fire broke out, the conditioning and construction of the new towns began in practically all the volleys of the bullring. The works were carried out with such speed that on the 18th of the same month of July the Monumental Madrid hosted a new bullfighting celebration and the public was able to attend normally to witness it.

On May 18, 1968, during the fight of the sixth bull of the Soledad Escribano cattle ranch, and that corresponded to Manuel Benítez "El Cordobés", bullfighting idol of the moment, the bullfighter Miguel Mateo "Miguelín" threw himself into the ring. as spontaneous and dressed in a business suit with a tie included.

It was an anecdotal event carried out by this bullfighter, Murcian by birth but resident in Algeciras (Cádiz), who already enjoyed prestige in the bullfighting environment with which he wanted to express his protest for what he considered a favorable treatment towards "El Cordobés" was always lucky to fight bulls that did not show any danger to the physical integrity of the Palma del Río bullfighter in the ring.

The bullfighter was fined heavily for this fact and days later, on July 3, he intervened dressed in lights in the traditional Corrida de la Prensa and at the end he left the Puerta Grande on his shoulders after cutting a total of six ears.

The matador from Salamanca Santiago Martín "El Viti" heads, with 14, the list of bullfighters who have walked on the shoulders through the front door of Las Ventas in its nine decades of history. While his partner and friend Paco Camino is the one who has walked the most ears in a single bullfight, eight trophies in total, on the historic afternoon of June 4, 1970, when the Sevillian fought seven bulls of the most varied and demanding settings. .

In those years, Palomo Linares, specifically on May 22, 1972, cut off the second and last tail that has been granted to date in Las Ventas. The first was 40 years earlier by Juan Belmonte.

The Madrid bullfighter Antonio Chenel "Antoñete" lived during his childhood in Las Ventas, specifically in a house located in the Patio de Arrastre, since his father was a monosabio of the bullring and his brother-in-law, Paco Parejo, mayoral of the same. Throughout his career, he opened the Puerta Grande de La Monumental several times. Fans still remember his anthological slaughter of "Atrevido", a saddled bull from the Osborne ranch. In 1998, the Community of Madrid installed, in his honor, a tile in his old home next to Desolladero with the inscription: "This was his square, this is his house."

On June 1, 1982, the three swords, Francisco Ruiz Miguel, Luis Francisco Esplá and José Luis Palomar, left with the cattle rancher Victorino Martín on the shoulders of the plaza. The result of the celebration made it known by many as "the bullfight of the century."

Days later, on July 19, 1982, during the celebration of the traditional Corrida de la Prensa, the bull "Belador", from Victorino Martín's cattle ranch, was pardoned by popular petition, the only case in the history of the Plaza de Las Ventas. . The fight corresponded to the right-hander from Cartagena José Ortega Cano.

Since April 28, 1935, the first Extraordinary Charity Bullfight was held in the Las Ventas bullring, created with the intention that the collection of the benefits would go to the funds of the Provincial Hospital of Madrid – currently Hospital Gregorio Marañón- who was the one who originally depended on the Madrid Monument, a total of 33 bullfighters have acted in this celebration in a disinterested way, that is, they did not receive any fee for their participation.

Of them, 22 have been bullfighters on foot and the remaining 11, rejoneadores. Among the former, three stand out who have performed twice: Manuel Rodríguez “Manolete”, Andrés Hernando and José Miguel Arroyo “Joselito”. And among the seconds, Álvaro Domecq and Díez, his son Álvaro Domecq Romero and the Duke of Pinohermoso also participated on two occasions.

Both the bullfighters on foot and the rejoneadores who have altruistically intervened in this Extraordinary Bullfight have seen their gesture grateful through a mural located in the Patio de Caballos of the bullring, just where the participating gangs enter the bullring. celebrations.

On July 8, 1995, the Madrilenian bullfighter Cristina Sánchez cut off two ears in Las Ventas on two young bulls from Carmen Lorenzo's cattle ranch, becoming the first woman to go out on the shoulders of the Puerta Grande. She also has to her credit being the only female to confirm a doctorate in the first place in the world, on May 12, 1998, in the middle of the San Isidro Fair.

During the winters, the tents of the circus companies used to be set up in Las Ventas, while in summer it also left space for boxing evenings and, above all, for great music concerts, including the first of the two given by the Beatles in Spain in 1965. La Monumental has been the favorite Madrid setting for performances by great national and international musical figures. Not surprisingly, the American singer Bruce Springsteen publicly stated that Las Ventas was the place with the best acoustics of all where he had performed. In addition, the arena in the Spanish capital became the second largest tennis court in the world in 2008, hosting the Davis Cup semifinal between Spain and the United States, with a capacity of 20.000 spectators.

2021, the year in which the 90th anniversary of the most important bullring in the world is commemorated, left an unusual image of Las Ventas. A blanket of more than 50 centimeters of snow stained the ring, alley, lines white... No one, not even the older fans, remembered a storm like this. Even the students of the Bullfighting School fought those days with snow up to the ankles. It took almost two weeks for the last flakes to melt and Las Ventas to recover all its color.