Plaza de España was built for an exhibition that never quite happened on time.

Anibal González began designing this vast semicircular plaza in 1914, intending it as the centrepiece for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. 15 years later, it emerged as one of Spain's most ambitious architectural projects: 50,000 square metres of exposed brick, ceramic tilework and Neo-Mudéjar detail arranged around a canal crossed by four bridges representing Spain's medieval kingdoms.

The plaza's most curious feature sits at ground level. Forty-eight ceramic alcoves run along the base, each dedicated to a Spanish province and illustrated with historical scenes. Seville gets special unmarked panels throughout rather than a single dedicated bench. The canal González designed curves around the building, representing Spain's embrace of its former colonies.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours explain how González used this architectural theatre to compress Spanish history into a single walkable space, revealing the stories behind each provincial mosaic and the symbolism embedded in bridges and towers.