Calle de Simancas

Behind this sign is Simancas, the town in the province of Valladolid that looks over the Pisuerga. The Romans recorded it as Septimanca, an older word of Indo-European root. It sounded like septem, “seven”, and from that sprang the legend of the seven maidens who mutilated their own hands to avoid being handed over as tribute to the emir of Córdoba. It is known for its castle. The fifteenth-century fortress passed to the Crown under Ferdinand and Isabella, who used it as a prison for political captives. In 1540 Charles V ordered a first set of documents deposited in one of its towers, and so was born the General Archive of the Kingdom, which holds the memory of the Spanish monarchy down to the nineteenth century. The street opens in Almenara, in the old surroundings of La Ventilla, and runs straight down towards avenida de Asturias. At number 6 it gives access to the District Council office of Tetuán.