Calle Aralar
The street takes its name from the Sierra de Aralar, a karst massif of 208 km² between Navarre and Gipuzkoa, with a highest point of 1,431 m. It forms part of the Colonia Iturbe, whose development began in 1926 promoted by Gregorio Iturbe Aldalur, a native of Ituren (Navarre), in a neighborhood with other Basque and Navarrese place names.
Aralar is a range of the Basque Mountains: 208 km² of limestone split between Navarre and Gipuzkoa, crowned by the Irumugarrieta peak at 1,431 meters. Its karst relief of limestone pavements, sinkholes and caves led to the Gipuzkoan part being protected as a Natural Park.
The range holds between 61 and 80 megalithic monuments, one of the largest concentrations in the whole Pyrenees. On Mount Putregain stands the sanctuary of San Miguel de Excelsis, which already appeared in a charter of Sancho the Great in 1032. The name is documented as Haralarre around 1025, and the most accepted explanation links it to the Basque larre, “pasture.”
In Madrid, this piece of the Basque Mountains gives its name to some 90 meters of street. The calle Aralar belongs to the Colonia Iturbe, built from 1926 by Gregorio Iturbe Aldalur, a native of Ituren, in Navarre. Hence the surrounding streets bear Basque and Navarrese names like Aizgorri and Begoña.
Sources (6)
- Sierra de Aralar — Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
- Aralar — Euskaltzaindia EODA (formas documentadas medievales)
- Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar — arteguias.com
- Parque Natural Aralar — Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa
- Callejero oficial del Ayuntamiento de Madrid (datos abiertos)
- Gregorio Iturbe, promotor de las colonias jardín de Madrid — casarural.madrid