Calle de Cuchilleros

Calle de Cuchilleros runs down from the Cava de San Miguel, at the foot of the Arco de Cuchilleros, to plaza de Puerta Cerrada, following the line of the old moat that ran in front of the Christian wall. The cutlers and swordsmiths set up their guild here, at a well-chosen spot between the forges and the butcher shops of the Plaza Mayor. They forged tools for the slaughterhouses, but also hunting knives, halberds and engraved game pieces, and some of those masters earned a reputation across Europe. The Arco de Cuchilleros, designed by Juan Gómez de Mora in 1617 to bridge the change in level, struck Galdós as a novelist’s setting: it returns again and again in Fortunata y Jacinta, so much so that Répide christened it “Fortunata’s arch.” At number 17, Sobrino de Botín has been open since 1725, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the world.