Calle de Moreno Nieto

The name recalls José Moreno Nieto, born in Siruela (Badajoz) in 1825 and dead in Madrid in 1882. He turned to Semitic languages and won the chair of Arabic in Granada while still young, translating the Arabic inscriptions of the Alhambra. His Gramática de la lengua arábica (1872) served as a textbook for years. A scholar devoted to the spoken word, he built a reputation as an orator. He was rector of the Universidad Central in Madrid between 1872 and 1874, in the turbulent years after 1868, and presided over the Ateneo, whose gatherings he turned into a stage for his eloquence. He paired his chair with a seat in parliament as deputy for Granada and for Badajoz. The calle de Moreno Nieto runs through the Imperial neighborhood, beside the Manzanares, in a stretch of Arganzuela where a school shares its plaque with the name of the Arabist from Extremadura.