Calle de Lavapiés

Lavapiés·Embajadores

The place name is of uncertain etymology. The best-documented hypothesis links it to the topography: the sharp slope of the land towards the Manzanares valley and the seasonal streams that crossed the area literally washed the feet (lavapiés) of those passing through when it rained. This explanation, recorded by Mesonero Romanos in El antiguo Madrid (1861) and reinforced by modern historians, rests on documentary evidence predating any consolidated settlement in the area. The other hypothesis, more widespread but later, proposes that the name comes from a public fountain where feet were washed before entering a supposed synagogue. The Jewish-quarter legend is now refuted: medieval Madrid’s Jewish community lay beside today’s Almudena Cathedral, more than a kilometre away, and Lavapiés was open country until the late 15th century, when no Jews remained in Castile.

A sloping street running down from the crossing with Jesús y María to the plaza de Lavapiés. It is the backbone of one of Madrid’s most quintessential quarters, the one Mesonero Romanos described as the Puerta del Sol of that corner. The place name is very old: it appears in the council records between 1441 and 1493, when this was still farmland. Building came in the 16th century, when artisans and day labourers occupied the royal road to Toledo. Philip III granted the street the title of Royal, an honour it shared only with calle del Barquillo. The 18th century made it an emblem of popular Madrid. Ramón de la Cruz portrayed in his farces the manolo, the swaggering lad of Lavapiés, and wrote the name as Avapiés. The nickname itself has a curious root: the converts who stayed in the district after 1492 used to name their firstborn son Manuel, and through sheer repetition the name came to stand for the typical resident of the quarter.

Its names

  • Real de Lavapiés17th century (reinado de Felipe 3rd, 1598–1621)
  • Calle del Avapiés18th century (uso literario, no oficial)
  • Calle de Lavapiés19th century – actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings