THE "REAL MAESTRANZA DE CABALLERÍA", RONDA, BEGGING THE PERMISSION OF THE ARENA IN BEJAR. IS THE OLDEST BULLRING IN SPAIN. HERE, MODERN BULLFIGHTING WAS BORN. DUE TO ITS BEAUTY AND HISTORICAL LEGACY, THIS ANCIENT PLAZA IS ONE OF THE MOST PRECIOUS STONE TREASURES IN THE RONDA MOUNTAINS.

"Smooth mountains, / Ronda's bullring. / by the light of the bullfight / they measure their height (...) / You win, Iberian peace, / Ronda pure to me, / arena of light without fight, / rose that does not die".
The poet Gerardo Diego, like many others throughout history, was captivated by the beautiful stonework of this bullring. This plaza is, in terms of its heritage and architecture, one of the oldest in Spain and one of the most precious in the entire world.
It is no accident of fate that Ronda is one of the birthplaces of modern bullfighting, which developed there during the 18th century.
Origins
The need to defend his territory obligen Felipe II to found, in 1572, La Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda (Ronda College of Horsemanship of Ronda). This body dedicated a space in the city to equestrian exercises, among which was, as had been traditional in Spain since the Middle Ages, sports of skill with bulls.
One of these was "lancing bulls", in other words, killing them with lances which is, in its primitive form, what we now know as bullfighting. If the bull managed to gore the horse, the attendant had to come out to draw the bull away, using a rag to confuse the animal. One of these helpers, centuries later, was Francisco Romero Acevedo. He thought a different version of the sport could be tried. There would be neither horse nor horseman. Just the attendant and the bull, face to face. He would fight it and kill it. He had invented bullfighting on foot.
Francisco started the first of Ronda's bullfighting dynasties. His son, Juan de Dios, followed in his father's footsteps and his four male offspring also earned their living with the red cape. Among them, one stood out. Pedro, born on 19 November 1754, Juan's second son began, at a very young age, to demonstrate outstanding qualities. He is considered to be the inventor of modern bullfighting. He was never wounded by a horn, despite giving the fatal thrust to more than 5000 bulls.
The Bullring
The increasing popularity of bullfighting led the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda to build its famous Plaza, a work attributed to Martín de Aldehuela, the same architec that has built the grandiose Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) over the Tajo in Ronda. The building of the Plaza took six years and it was inaugurated in 1785, with a bullfight that featured Pedro Romero y Pepe Hillo.
Conceived in sandstone, the nobility of its architectural shape, with its double gallery of arcades and absence of uncovered stands, gives it more the aura of a cloister than of a stadium built for bull shows, reminding one of the circular patio of the famous Carlos V Palace in Granada's Alhambra. Its 66-metres diameter is encircled by a passage formed by two stone rings. The stands are on two levels, with five terraced rows each and 136 columns forming 68 arcs of Tuscan Columns, with the exception of those of the Royal Box. Covered with a gabled roof in Arabic tiles, no other Plaza can compare with the elegance of its interior.
La Goyesca
In the mounth of September, Ronda celebrates its Fiestas de Pedro Romero. Among all the events that take place, La Goyesca stands out. The bullfighters rush down the passage in the same bullfighter's costumes that Francisco de Goya painted in his works: the eighteenth century coat, the taleguilla (trousers), the hair net... It has a wardrobe akin to Zarzuela, on a unique afternoon, champion of which was the other great maestro of Ronda. Antonio Ordóñez, whose statue rightly presides over the outskirts of the arena.
The Bulfighting Museum
It Would be worth writing a complete chapter on the riches it contains. Inside, one can take a trip through bullfighting history set down in oil paintings, engravings, illustrations, lithographs, documents, books, costumes, equipments...
"Bullring of Ronda, / early moon that rings / the combined marvel / of the high and low town; /moon of smooth stone, / falls like a flower / of gold, on the stone, the green / of the high mountains; / what will come, cruel moon, / of your magic brightness?". The words of Pedro Pérez Clotet.