Calle de Torija

Ópera·Palacio

The name comes from the master builder and treatise-writer Juan de Torija (Madrid, 14 July 1624 — 29 August 1666), who lived on this street. Torija was chief works overseer at the Buen Retiro from 1652, master builder of the city from 1653, and author of two treatises published in 1661. The street took his name from this documented residence, not from the Guadalajara town of Torija, with which it has no connection.

The street runs north to south between plaza de la Marina Española and plaza de Santo Domingo, in the Palacio quarter. You can walk it in under three minutes, and in that brief stretch lie the traces of three institutions that shaped modern Madrid. At number 14, where the Reparadoras nuns now live, once stood the Supreme Council of the Holy and General Inquisition. Ventura Rodríguez designed it around 1782, but cost trimmed the commission and only its façade was built; above the doorway a Latin warning was carved, Exurge Domine et judica causam tuam. The Holy Office operated here until the Inquisition was abolished in 1820. At number 7, a 17th-century palace has housed the Café de Chinitas flamenco venue since 1970. At its northern end, the street opens in front of the Senate Palace. The Holy Office, the constitutional Senate and an enclosed convent, all facing a street you can cross in the space of a sigh.

Its names

  • Sin nombre documentado / trazado sin designarAnterior a la segunda mitad del 17th century
  • Calle de TorijaSegunda mitad del 17th century — actualidad
  • [“Calle del Inquisidor General” — denominación no acreditada]Siglo 18th (atribución en fuentes divulgativas, no verificada)
Sources (10)

Crossings