Calle de Velarde

Calle de Velarde, in the Universidad quarter, was not always called this nor did it stand alone. It crosses from Fuencarral to plaza del Dos de Mayo, site of the Monteleón artillery park where Velarde and Daoiz mounted their resistance on 2 May 1808. Earlier it bore saints' names, San Miguel and Santo Domingo, and formed a continuous street between San Bernardo and Fuencarral. In 1834 the city split it in two: the western stretch became Daoiz and the eastern one Velarde, the two officers who fell that day. Pedro Velarde, an artillery captain and ballistics expert, heard the first shots on the morning of 2 May, left his post unbidden and went alone to the Monteleón park. There he joined Luis Daoiz’s defence against a French column of some two thousand men. A point-blank shot to the heart killed him; he was 28. In the 20th century the street earned other fame: at number 18, La Vía Láctea bar opened in 1979, one of the places where the Movida madrileña was born.