Calle de Cea Bermúdez

The name honors Francisco de Paula Cea Bermúdez, Count of Colombí, a diplomat born in Málaga in 1772. He became first secretary of state to Ferdinand VII in 1825 and again headed the government between 1832 and 1834, now under the queen regent María Cristina. He sought a middle way between apostolic absolutism and liberalism, a stance that left him without allies: Martínez de la Rosa replaced him and he ended up exiled in France. From his time in power something remains that we still use every day: under his government Javier de Burgos’s provincial division of 1833 was approved. A confusion clings to the sign. Because of the nearly exact match of surnames, some suspected the council actually meant to recall Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez, the art historian, and mixed up one figure with the other. Today the street crosses Chamberí from west to east, from Moncloa toward the Castellana.