Calle de Buenavista

Calle de Buenavista, between Santa Isabel and la Fe, owes its name to a well-aimed arrow. The tale begins in the ancestral house of the Castellanos, a lineage settled on the street. One of them is said to have been in Algeciras when he saw a Moor fleeing with a carving of the Virgin: a single arrow was enough, piercing the thief’s chest. That true shot earned him the nickname Buenavista, and the carving came to be called Nuestra Señora de Buenavista. Brought to Madrid, the image stayed in the chapel of the family home, and the street came to be known by the devotion venerated there. It later travelled across half of Madrid —⁠to the church of la Trinidad on calle de Atocha, then to Chamberí⁠— until its trail was lost. In the late 20th century an urban plan sought to demolish the houses between Buenavista and Zurita to open a boulevard. Residents' pressure reversed the project, and the street kept its appearance.