Calle Betania
The name comes from Bethany, the Palestinian village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about three kilometers east of Jerusalem. In the New Testament it is the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, and the place where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The place name comes from the Aramaic Bêth-ânî, with a disputed etymology: the best-documented readings for this village are “house of the poor” and “house of affliction.” Today the original site is the Arab town of Al-Azariya, “the place of Lazarus,” in the West Bank.
The Pacífico neighborhood arose in the last quarter of the 19th century, on the land of Carlos María de Castro’s expansion plan. On the strip separating Atocha station from the southern edge of the Retiro, the municipal plan wove a grid of short streets with names of very mixed origin: soldiers, scientists, American geography and a small constellation of religious place names.
To that devout family belongs Calle Betania, which joins Calle de Nuestra Señora de la Paz with Calle de Cavanilles. It has borne that name since 21 July 1880, just as the neighborhood was taking final shape. Bethany was the village on the Mount of Olives where, according to the Gospels, Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived, and where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.