Calle de Tribulete

Calle de Tribulete runs down from plaza de Lavapiés to calle de Embajadores, in the oldest fabric of the district that grew south of the medieval wall. The name honours no saint or hero: it recalls a game, tribulete, played with wooden pieces in the courtyards of Lavapiés during the 16th and 17th centuries. Here stands the Corrala de Tribulete, built in 1872 by José María Mariategui, Madrid’s most famous tenement, with galleries overhanging the courtyard. More than a thousand people once lived in it, in rooms under thirty square metres, and the courtyard served as a stage for open-air zarzuelas. That world of neighbours leaning from the balconies inspired La Revoltosa, by Ruperto Chapí. It was declared a national monument in 1977. The old plazuela del Tribulete also gave rise to a song sung across Spain, “La chica del 17,” from 1929. The real girl lived at number 13, but the number was changed so it would rhyme with “tribulete.” In this handful of metres lie a lost game, a thousand people crammed into a tenement, and a song that changed its number for the sake of a rhyme.