Calle de Balmes

The name pays tribute to Jaime Balmes, priest and philosopher born and died in Vic (1810-1848). He was ordained young, taught mathematics and, before turning forty, became one of the most heeded voices in the turbulent Spain of his time. He sought to think faith and reason together, and left books still read today: El criterio, a guide to reasoning well, and El protestantismo comparado con el catolicismo, which made him known across much of Europe. The Spanish Royal Academy elected him a member in 1848, but tuberculosis took him before he could take his seat. In Barcelona, Balmes names one of the longest arteries of the Eixample. In Madrid he was given a tiny passage in the Trafalgar district, between Felipe el Hermoso and Santísima Trinidad, whose almost sole function is to give access to a public library.