Calle de Bordadores

Sol

The name comes from the guild of silk embroiderers established on this street since the reign of John II of Castile (first half of the fifteenth century), when the king granted the master embroiderers the privilege of settling in the area, then a suburb of the town. Texeira’s map (1656) still calls it “calle de San Ginés”; that of Espinosa de los Monteros (1769) already records it as “Bordadores.”

Calle de Bordadores links the Mayor with the Arenal, in the Sol district, and owes its name to a trade practised there for centuries. As early as the mid-fifteenth century the master silk embroiderers had their workshops and shops on this street, settled under royal protection. The guild reached its height in the last third of the eighteenth century, when in 1779 it formed the Brotherhood of Embroiderers under the patronage of Our Lady of the Elevation. Some 140 tradesmen of the craft then worked in Madrid, though only seven held the title of master. At number 9 the comic playwright Tomás Luceño was born, and on the north side stood the door to the famous dungeon of San Ginés, an underground oratory where the faithful performed spiritual exercises.

Its names

  • Calle de San GinésAnterior a 1656 — registrada así en el plano de Texeira (1656)
  • Calle de los Bordadores / Calle de BordadoresRecogida como «Bordadores» en el plano de Espinosa de los Monteros (1769)
Sources (7)

Crossings