Calle de Seminario de Nobles

Conde Duque·Universidad

The street takes its name from the Royal Seminary of Nobles, an educational institution founded by Philip V in 1725 to train young aristocrats, whose definitive building occupied the block between this street and Calle de Princesa, Mártires de Alcalá, and Serrano Jover. Pedro de Ribera directed the construction, whose foundation stone was laid on 17 July 1731. The street name perpetuates the memory of the institution, gone in 1836, and of the building, destroyed by fire in 1889.

In the Universidad district, between Calle de Princesa and Serrano Jover, a street keeps the memory of one of the most exclusive schools Madrid ever had: the Royal Seminary of Nobles. Philip V founded it in 1725 and placed it under the wing of the Jesuits. The definitive building, designed by Pedro de Ribera, rose on Princesa around 1735. It admitted boys who had to prove purity of blood and noble birth, with no trace of Moors or Jews in their family tree. It was the first school in Spain where French was compulsory, because those pupils were expected to become diplomats. The French invasion closed the classrooms in 1808 and the building became a military hospital; the Seminary shut for good in 1836 with the end of noble privileges. A fire gutted the building in 1889. The street along its south flank took the Seminary’s name. Under Franco it lost that sign in favour of a far-right journalist, and only in 1980 did the city restore the name Seminario de Nobles, the first it ever bore.

Its names

  • Calle sin nombre documentado / calle de la manzana del SeminarioHasta c. 1735
  • Calle del Seminario de Noblesc. 1735 – c. 1931
  • Calle de Enrique de Mesac. 1931 – 1939
  • Calle de Manuel Delgado Barreto1939 (aprox.) – 1980
  • Calle de Seminario de Nobles25 enero 1980 – actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings