Calle Naciones
A short street in the Goya neighbourhood (Salamanca district) bearing a collective honorific name: “nations” evokes the international community without referring to any particular state or person. The sources consulted confirm the street’s existence and location, but none documents the exact reason for its naming.
A small street in the Goya neighbourhood, in the Salamanca district, barely 127 metres long, running into Calle de Alcántara. It is part of the Ensanche designed by Carlos María de Castro, approved in 1860, and of the blocks the Marquis of Salamanca was licensed to develop in the northeast Ensanche.
One detail gives away its age: while almost all of the Ensanche follows a strict grid, this street bends and breaks formation, a sign that it was named later than the founding thoroughfares. The municipal agreement that christened it has never surfaced, so the exact date remains up in the air.
The name celebrates the nations as a whole, singling out none above the rest. It stands out among its neighbours, because the Salamanca Ensanche filled up with the surnames of generals and politicians: Narváez, Serrano, O’Donnell. Here there is no hero and no likeness, only a collective idea carved on a plaque.