Calle de San Ignacio de Loyola

A narrow, little-used street, it runs parallel to the Calle de los Reyes without ever touching it: 113 metres between the Calle del Álamo and the Calle del Maestro Guerrero, where it ends opposite a back door of the Teatro Coliseum. What faces it are the rear walls of premises whose entrances open onto the larger neighbouring street. The name comes from the Jesuit Novitiate, founded in 1602 on the block bounded by San Bernardo, Noviciado, Amaniel and Reyes. The Jesuits named almost everything around them: the Calle de los Reyes passed through Huerta del Noviciado, Noviciado and San Ignacio before settling on its name, and once that was fixed the label of San Ignacio de Loyola fell to this adjacent lane. After the 1767 expulsion, the old complex ended up housing the Central University, hence the quarter’s name. In 1985 the street became a film set. Here Miguel Ángel Díez shot his version of Luces de Bohemia, with Francisco Rabal as Max Estrella: its cobbles and service doors stood in for the grotesque nocturnal Madrid of Valle-Inclán.