Calle de San Bernardino

A street leading out of Madrid to the north-west, the same one Texeira drew in the 17th century as Calle de San Joaquín. Today it runs from Calle de los Reyes to Plaza de Cristino Martos, skirting the back of the Edificio España. The present name came from a convent. It was founded in 1570 by Discalced friars with the alms of Leonor de Toledo, a nun of the Descalzas Reales. Around 1614 a Via Sacra lined with stone crosses was laid between the convent and the gate, and the street became a processional axis. Around then maps began calling the gate “de San Bernardino”, and the nickname passed to the street. The 1834 secularisation ended the convent, converted that year into a Poorhouse. The street holds treasures. At number 3, the Montano Building housed a concert hall that opened in 1890 with murals by the Zuloaga brothers and hosted Pau Casals and Valle-Inclán. Number 14 is the Palace of the Marquis of Santa Cruz de Mudela, which since 2009 houses the Álvaro de Bazán Foundation, with works by Goya and Sorolla.