Calle Ciudad Rodrigo
The street took the name Ciudad Rodrigo in 1835 to mark the capture of that Salamanca stronghold by General Arthur Wellesley on 20 January 1812, during the Peninsular War. For that victory Wellesley received the title Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, granted by Ferdinand VII on 30 January 1812; the street honours the event, not the soldier directly.
The street was opened in 1583 so the royal procession could go straight from the Alcázar to the church of Atocha without the detour through Sol and Carretas. It links the Plaza Mayor with calle Mayor and forms one of the square’s ten entrances through the arch that bears its name, in the northwest corner. The buildings were slow to rise, not finished until 1629.
For a long time it was called calle Nueva, as Texeira’s 1656 map records it. The present name came in 1835, when the street joined a nearby series named after Peninsular War battles, alongside Toledo, Gerona and Zaragoza.
Under the arcades there were fritter shops, and from the 1960s the street became the epicentre of Madrid’s fried-squid sandwich. Casa Rúa is still there, open at number 3 since 1957.
Its names
- Calle Nueva1583 – c. 1835
- Calle de Ciudad Rodrigoc. 1835 – actualidad
Sources (8)
- Madrid: sus viejas calles — Ciudad Rodrigo (Calle de)
- La Gaceta de Salamanca — El pueblo salmantino que da nombre a una céntrica calle en Madrid
- Salamancartvaldia — Ciudad Rodrigo pierde una de sus señas de identidad en Madrid (2021)
- Miradas de Madrid — Las diez puertas de la Plaza Mayor
- Wikipedia ES — Sitio de Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)
- Wikipedia ES — Ducado de Ciudad Rodrigo
- Wikidata — calle de Ciudad Rodrigo (Q27050797)
- Por las calles de Madrid — Galería de imágenes: Calle de Ciudad Rodrigo