Las Palmas - Gran Canaria, September 2011

Spain (ⁱ/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union . It is located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. The border with Spain (1,214 km long) is the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union.

A facade or façade (pron.: /fəˈsɑːd/) is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face".

In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. Many façades are historic, and local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spanish pronunciation: [las ˈpalmaz ðe ɣɾaŋ kaˈnaɾja]), commonly known as Las Palmas (English /ləs ˈpɑːlməs/, Spanish: [las ˈpalmas]) is the co-capital (jointly with Santa Cruz) and the most populous city in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, and the ninth largest city in Spain, with a population of 383,308 in 2010. Nearly half (45.9%) of the people of the island and 18.35% of all inhabitants of the Canary Islands live in this city. It is also the fifth most populous urban area in Spain with a population exceeding 700,000 and (depending on sources) ninth or tenth most populous metropolitan area in Spain with a population of between 625,000 and 750,000. Las Palmas is the largest city of the European Union lying outside the European Continent. It is located in the northeast part of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, about 150 kilometers (~93 miles) off the northwestern coast of Africa within the Atlantic Ocean.