Calle de San Martín

Sol

The name comes from the Benedictine monastery of San Martín de Tours, founded outside the walls of Madrid by Cluniac monks who accompanied Alfonso VI in his conquest of the town in the late 11th century. The first documentary reference dates from 16 June 1126, when Alfonso VII granted privileges to the priory’s abbot to settle the adjoining suburb.

The calle de San Martín, in the Sol quarter, wraps around the block where a community of Benedictine monks lived for centuries. In its shadow grew the suburb that is the first on written record in Madrid, and the parish came to hold such authority that Mesonero Romanos recalled it as the town’s largest jurisdiction: 105 streets and 2,300 houses depended on it. Little of that power remains. Joseph Bonaparte pulled down the church around 1809-1811 to enlarge the square; the convent held on until 1868, after serving as the Civil Government office and a Civil Guard barracks. On the empty site, between 1870 and 1875, rose the Casa de las Alhajas, seat of the Madrid Savings Bank and Monte de Piedad, which still occupies number 5. Of all that monastic life barely three names survive on the map: this street, the plaza de San Martín and the calle del Postigo de San Martín.

Its names

  • Sin nombre registradoAnterior a 1656
  • Subida a San Martín / Portería de las DescalzasSiglos 17th-18th
  • Plaza de San Martín (primer registro cartográfico)1769
  • Calle de San MartínSiglo 19th (fecha de rotulación precisa no consta)
Sources (12)

Crossings