This is how the Bernabéu stadium has changed over 74 years

We cannot talk about the history of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium without talking about the Chamartín stadium. On May 14, 1924, Real Madrid moved from the O’Donnell stadium to the north of the city of Madrid. In the photo, an aerial view of the Air Force of the area in 1931, we clearly see the Chamartín field in what is now the Corner of the Bernabéu.

Real Madrid was playing at the Chamartín stadium until 1946.

Given the influx of public, Real Madrid with Santiago Bernabéu at the helm, decided to build a bigger stadium. The current white temple (red box) was built on a part of the Chamartín stadium (yellow box).

Current aerial view of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium area.

The design team of the project for the New Chamartín Stadium (later the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium) was in the hands of the architects Manuel Muñoz Monasterio (who also built the Ramón de Carranza and Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadiums), José María Castell and Luis Alemany Soler. Huarte was the construction company that was awarded the project. In the photo, the model of what would be the new stadium.

On October 27, 1944, President Santiago Bernabéu laid the first stone of what would become the New Chamartín Stadium.

The works of the new stadium were carried out on the grounds of Villa Ulpiana and on one of the parts of the old Chamartín stadium. To meet the cost of the works, mortgage bonds were issued that were exhausted in just one day.

The New Chamartín Stadium was built while the old one continued to be used. As can be seen in the image, the new one ended up ‘eating’ the old one.

The works of the New Chamartín Stadium were finished throughout the year 1947.

Finally, the new Real Madrid stadium was inaugurated on December 14, 1947 with the match that faced them against Os Belenenses de Portugal (3-2), under the name of Estadio Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (it would be known as Nuevo Estadio de Chamartín ). Although the works on the stadium were finished, the surroundings still lacked urbanization and conditioning, as can be seen in the image of Manuel Urech.

On match days a multitude of cars and pedestrians filled the surroundings when the Paseo de la Castellana was not yet finished. In the image, the facade of Avenida de Concha Espina in 1948.

The New Chamartín Stadium had a capacity of 70,000 seats (with a total of 41,848 members and 10,532 subscribers) and the playing field measured 105 by 70 meters.

The New Chamartín Stadium was small due to the great demand for tickets. For this reason, in 1953 the first remodeling of the enclosure took place. The third amphitheater was added in the stands of Padre Damián street (known as “gallinero”) and also two towers. In June 1954 the stadium had 125,000 seats.

On January 2, 1955 it was decided at a meeting of the board of directors to call it the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

In March 1957 the stadium had lighting in the stands and entrances. Real Madrid could already play at night. To make it official, a friendly match was played against Sport do Club Recife (Brazilian champion) on May 18, 1957.

Interior view of the stands of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in the 60s.

Interior view of the stands of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in the 60s.

In October 1972 the electronic scoreboard was installed where the results of the other teams could be seen.

The next major remodeling of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium was for the 1982 World Cup in Spain. The façade, all the entrances and the old rooms were modernized.

FIFA established that the seating capacity had to be reduced by half, of which two thirds had to be covered. For this reason, a canopy was installed that covered the perimeter of the first and second amphitheater except in the area of ​​the “chicken coop” (east side).

The facade underwent a complete remodeling and modernization. The work was carried out by the Hispano-Alemana construction company, based on the designs of the architects Luis and Rafael Alemany (sons of Luis Alemany Soler, one of the stadium’s designers in the 1940s) and Manuel Salinas.

State of the surroundings of the facade of Calle Damián where works were carried out for the new entrances.

Due to FIFA requirements, the capacity of the stadium was reduced from 125,000 to 90,800 seats, of which 24,550 were under the new roof.

A new cover was created around the entire field except for the “chicken coop” area. The works lasted 16 months and cost 704 million pesetas (almost 4.5 million euros), of which Real Madrid paid 530 (almost 3.2 million euros).

In 1992 work began on the shopping center ‘The corner of the Bernabéu’.

During the early nineties, the stadium underwent several extensions of the low and high stands to reach 106,000 spectators, to compensate for the loss of capacity required for the 1982 World Cup.

To access the new stands and better evacuation, four towers were built outside the stadium with two central staircases and a helical ramp.

In 1997, UEFA forced almost all seats to be seats, for which a large part of the stands was remodeled.

With the new stands, the stadium’s capacity went from 106,000 to 86,000 spectators.

After the construction of the new structures, the height of the stadium went from 22 to 45 meters. This meant that a large part of the bleachers and the lawn were in shade.

The work approved by the board of directors of Ramón Mendoza was designed by Estudio Lamela and executed by the company Ginés y Navarro Construcciones. The total cost was 5,000 million pesetas (30 million euros).

Finally, in the 2000s (after various works that included the creation of the White Museum, the new store …) the east wing of Calle Damián was expanded, leaving all the stands covered. The new capacity is 81,044 seats.

Aerial view of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium before the current remodeling works of the venue.

Aerial view of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium before the current remodeling works of the venue.

Currently the Santiago Bernabéu is still in the remodeling works that will result in the Santiago Bernabéu of the XXI century. Among many other improvements it will have a roof and new commercial areas.

When the remodeling works are completed, this will be the new look of the Santiago Bernabéu.