official neighbourhood of Universidad

Malasaña

Popularly Malasaña, after Manuela Malasaña, a young seamstress killed on 2 May 1808 during the uprising against the French. Earlier it was called Maravillas, after the Convent of Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas. Officially Universidad (University), after the Central University that settled beside San Bernardo in the nineteenth century, when it moved from Alcalá.

Popularly Malasaña, after Manuela Malasaña, the young seamstress killed on 2 May 1808. Earlier it was Maravillas, after its convent; officially it is Universidad, after the studies that came from Alcalá and settled beside San Bernardo. Everything turns around a single date. At the Monteleón artillery park, where the Plaza del Dos de Mayo now opens up, the captains Daoíz and Velarde and the lieutenant Ruiz stood up to Napoleon; their names, and Manuela’s, were carved into the quarter’s corners. A century and a half later, Malasaña rose up again, this time with guitars. Today people stay out late from El Pez to La Luna, cross El Desengaño (Disillusion) without being disillusioned, and follow a neon star up the street. The quarter that stood up to Napoleon still hasn’t learned how to keep still.

Streets

Part of the official neighbourhood of Universidad —the part Madrid knows as Malasaña—, street by street.