Street Signs

Tuesday, August 29

While strolling through the many beautiful streets of downtown Madrid, one detail particularly caught my eye: the many gorgeous street signs in the city.

While in Germany most street signs are mounted on a metal pole on the side of the road in front of the houses, in Madrid street signs are usually attached directly on the house walls. The signs in Madrid are not made of printed metal, but are often carefully assembled from small, detailed painted tiles. In addition to the actual street name, often there are paintings underneath the type that show the street’s namesake.

These painted tile street signs are so beautiful that you could easily spend an entire day walking the streets of Madrid just admiring the stunning street signs. My sketch here shows one of the city’s countless painted street signs.