Calle del Espíritu Santo

Malasaña·Universidad

The name comes from a stone cross with a dove at its centre⁠—⁠the image of the Holy Spirit⁠—⁠raised in the street to mark an event from the reign of Philip III: a lightning bolt destroyed hovels inhabited by Moriscos on the third day of Pentecost. The cross stood until 1820, when the magistrate Marquina ordered all crosses removed from public streets. On the Texeira map (1656) the street already bears this name; earlier it was called “calle de la Cruz del Espíritu Santo” and, popularly, “calle de Buenavista.”

They say that in the days of Philip III this corner held disreputable little shops inhabited by Moriscos. On the third day of Pentecost, with no storm to warn of it, a lightning bolt fell from a clear sky and reduced them to ash. The neighbours saw the Holy Spirit in the fire and raised a stone cross crowned with a dove. Hence the name of calle del Espíritu Santo. Pedro de Répide, who recorded the tradition, warned that he was on slippery ground between history and legend. What is documented is the cross, which stood until 1820. The layout is old: the 1656 Texeira map already shows its characteristic kink, the elbow that now opens into the small plaza de Juan Pujol. In the eighteenth century the street gained stature with the Palacio de Parcent, home to María Isidra de Guzmán, the first woman admitted to the Royal Spanish Academy in 1784.

Its names

  • Calle de BuenavistaAntes de 1623
  • Calle del Espíritu Santo / Calle de la Cruz del Espíritu Santo1623-1820
  • Calle del Espíritu Santo1835 hasta hoy
Sources (6)

Crossings