Callejón de Santa Eulalia

This short alley in the Berruguete neighborhood bears the name of one of the most venerated martyrs of Roman Hispania. Eulalia was a girl when she died, by tradition twelve or thirteen, during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, around the year 304. The story goes that she appeared alone before the governor’s tribunal to declare herself a Christian and rebuke the judges for their cruelty. The magistrate, angered, ordered her torn with iron hooks and lit torches applied to her wounds. Legend adds that, as the girl expired, a white dove flew from her mouth and a sudden snowfall covered her bare body, like a shroud sent from heaven. Two cities lay claim to her memory, Mérida and Barcelona, with nearly twin accounts. It is not documented which one the street’s sign meant to refer to, in a web of small streets that the old shantytown of Tetuán traced without a plan.