Calle de Isabel La Católica

Ópera·Palacio

The street is named after Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504), called “the Catholic” together with her husband Ferdinand V. The name was adopted around 1855. It had earlier been popularly known as “de la Inquisición” for the prison and tribunal of the Holy Office that occupied number 4 from the late 17th century until 1820.

Calle del Espíritu Santo, calle de la Inquisición, calle de María Cristina and, at last, calle de Isabel la Católica: few Madrid streets have changed their sign so many times. It runs from the Plaza de Santo Domingo to the Gran Vía, in the heart of Habsburg Madrid. The first name came from the Premonstratensian church of San Norberto, consecrated on Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Spirit. Ventura Rodríguez rebuilt it elegantly after the floods of 1740, but Joseph I had it demolished in 1810. The second name carries more shadow: at number 4 the Holy Office kept its tribunal and prison, with cells beneath the square. In March 1820 the neighbours stormed the building and, according to Mesonero Romanos, found only two people inside. The third name, María Cristina, recalled the Conservatory that the queen regent founded in 1830 at the end of the street. When it moved, the name evaporated, and by around 1855 the name Isabel la Católica was already recorded.

Its names

  • Calle del Espíritu Santo17th century (antes de 1656)
  • Calle de los Premostensesdocumentada en 1656
  • Calle de la Inquisicióndocumentada en 1769
  • Calle de María Cristinac. 1830–1855
  • Calle de Isabel la Católicac. 1855 (documentado en 1889)
Sources (10)

Crossings