Calle de Hernani

The name travels from Gipuzkoa to the heart of Cuatro Caminos. Hernani is a town near San Sebastián, set on the Urumea meadowlands. Its name is older than the town itself: as early as the eleventh century a document of the Navarrese king Sancho III mentions Hernani to refer to the medieval valley between the Urumea and Oria rivers, and only in the mid-thirteenth century did the place receive the title of town. The memory that names this street is more recent and more dramatic. In late May 1874, during the Third Carlist War, Hernani endured a three-day bombardment without surrendering, and that defense won it a reputation as a heroic stronghold. The choice was no whim either: Cuatro Caminos was laid out like a small map of Spain, with streets named after provinces and towns. Today the road runs briefly from Bravo Murillo to Orense. It already appeared in the late nineteenth century as a modern opening looking out onto open country from the old calle del Orden.