Gate of Europe (KIO Towers)
Two 26-floor office towers that lean toward each other at 15° — the first inclined skyscrapers ever built.
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Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed these twins for Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, completed in 1996. The 15° tilt is structural fact, not optical trick, earning them a genuine world first. They frame the northern end of the Paseo de la Castellana and were nearly finished when the 1995 film The Day of the Beast used one as its climax location.
What to look for
- The 15° inward lean of each tower, most apparent from across Plaza de Castilla
- Rooftop helicopter pads — blue-outlined on the west tower, red on the east
- Their flanking position on either side of the Plaza de Castilla bus station
Both towers sit at Plaza de Castilla, directly beside the intercity bus station and a short walk from Chamartín railway station.
Gate of Europe (KIO Towers) is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Madrid, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Madrid pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Madrid
- BernabéuThe only stadium on earth to host both a UEFA Champions League final and a Copa Libertadores final — and the first in Europe to crown both a World Cup and a Euro.
- Museo del PradoThe Spanish royal collection — 7,600 paintings accumulated over centuries — opened to the public in November 1819 and never looked back.
- Metropolitano StadiumThe pitch that staged the 2019 Champions League final will host another in 2027 — and is shortlisted for the 2030 World Cup.
- Royal Palace of MadridThe original Alcázar burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 1734 — what the Bourbons built in its place is the largest palace in Western Europe.
- Museo Reina SofíaGuernica — Picasso's 1937 painting of wartime devastation — hangs here at full scale, in person.
- Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy)A duke's private library meeting in 1711 grew into the institution that still rules what counts as correct Spanish — for Spain and 22 other Spanish-speaking nations.