Corredera Baja de San Pablo

Malasaña·Universidad

The name derives from the hermitage dedicated to Saint Paul at the northern end of the outskirts, next to the estate of Vocinguerra de Arcos (where the Hospice, today the Museum of History, would later rise). The street was the pilgrimage road to that shrine, and on the saint’s eve popular races⁠—⁠called “correderas”⁠—⁠were held with flower and fruit stalls along the way. The distinction between Baja and Alta appears on Espinosa’s map (1769); Texeira’s (1656) records the whole as “Corredera de San Pablo”, undivided.

Corredera Baja de San Pablo begins at Plaza de Santa María de Soledad Torres Acosta, where it meets Calle de Luna, and ends at the little square of San Ildefonso, where it changes name and becomes the Corredera Alta. This is the Universidad district, the old Maravillas. The name keeps the memory of a road that for centuries lay outside the walls and led to a hermitage dedicated to the apostle Saint Paul, beside the estate of Vocinguerra de Arcos. Each summer a pilgrimage of traditional flavour was held there; when the hermitage disappeared, the fair moved towards the Paseo del Prado and the Plaza Mayor. Over the centuries the street became pure commerce. At number 2 stands the church of San Antonio de los Alemanes, of rare elliptical plan, built in the days of Philip IV. The Teatro Lara opened at number 15 in 1880, commissioned by Cándido Lara and nicknamed “don Cándido’s chocolate box”; on its stage premiered Benavente’s Los intereses creados and Falla’s El amor brujo. At number 20, around 1909, Antonio Machado and his wife Leonor lodged for a time.

Its names

  • Corredera de San PabloAnterior a 1656
  • Calle de San Ildefonso (el tramo alto)1656–1769 aprox.
  • Corredera Baja de San Pablo / Corredera Alta de San PabloDesde 1769 aprox.
  • Corredera Baja de San PabloHasta hoy
Sources (8)

Crossings