Calle de Alcalá

The main artery of modern Madrid, it takes its name from the historic road that ran from the Puerta del Sol to Alcalá de Henares. Its route dates back at least to the 15th century; Mesonero Romanos described it in 1861 as “the first, most authorized and worthy avenue of modern Madrid.”

By the early 15th century a road already ran here, Madrid’s eastern exit towards Alcalá de Henares and, beyond, towards Aragon. It crossed an olive grove so dense that from it came its oldest name, calle de los Olivares. Isabella I ordered those olive trees felled because wrongdoers hid among the trunks. When the Court settled in Madrid in 1561, the street began to draw noble palaces and convents, and from the 17th century it was the avenue favoured by the aristocracy. Charles III drove its widening: Sabatini finished the Puerta de Alcalá in 1778 and directed the Customs House, today the seat of the Ministry of Finance. The name was slow to take hold. Between 1840 and 1855, on and off, the street honoured General Espartero as calle del Duque de la Victoria, though as early as 1835 the municipal register had fixed the name calle de Alcalá. The outer stretch, the old Carretera de Aragón, was absorbed in 1992, and so the street reached its present eleven kilometres.

Its names

Calle de los Olivares15th century – 19th century
Calle de los Caños de Alcalá16th century – 17th century
Calle del Pósito17th century – 19th century
Calle del Duque de la Victoria1840–1843 y 1854–1855
Carretera de Aragón / Avenida de Aragón1860 – 1992

Sources (6)