Calle Villa de Arbancón

The name arrives from the Sierra Norte of Guadalajara down to southern Madrid. Arbancón is a town in the north of that province, with stone houses and ashlar doorways. Like other streets in this corner of Las Acacias, Calle Villa de Arbancón carries the name of a Guadalajara town into the Arganzuela street map. The title “Villa de” recalls a specific event: Arbancón gained the rank of town in 1721, when Philip V granted it that privilege. Before that it had been under the lordship of the Order of Calatrava, and later passed to the Mendoza family and the ducal house of Medinaceli. One of Arbancón’s most recognisable traditions comes from here: the botargas, masked figures who roam the streets during the Candlemas festivities in early February. None of that shows in this short Arganzuela street, where the town’s name survives on a plaque.