Calle de Bravo Murillo

Before honouring a minister, this street was a mail road. It was known as Carretera de la Mala de Francia, and the word “mala” referred not to its condition but to the mailbag (from the French malle) that set off for the border. From here letters left heading north. In 1875 the name changed to recall Juan Bravo Murillo, born in Fregenal de la Sierra (Badajoz) in 1803. A lawyer, finance minister and president of the Council of Ministers, he put the state’s finances in order, but his most visible work for Madrileños runs underground: he promoted the Canal de Isabel II, which at last brought clean water to a thirsty city. The avenue runs beside the Canal’s reservoirs, still in service. Today his name crosses several neighbourhoods of Tetuán and Chamberí along one of the longest commercial arteries in Madrid.