Costanilla de San Pedro

Los Austrias·Palacio

The street takes its name from the church of San Pedro el Viejo, which flanks its upper stretch. The church already appears in the Fuero of Madrid of 1202, and its Mudéjar tower dates from the 14th century. “El Viejo” (“the Old”) was added from 1891, when parish functions passed to the church of La Paloma, which adopted the title of San Pedro el Real. Earlier the street was called “del Condestable,” for the houses the Constable of Castile held there, and “de la Palma,” as recorded on the Espinosa map (1769). On the Teixeira map (1656) it appears unnamed.

Costanilla de San Pedro descends from plaza de San Andrés to calle de Segovia, in the heart of Habsburg Madrid. It is named for the church of San Pedro el Viejo, one of the two oldest surviving parishes in the city; it already appears in the Fuero of 1202. Its Mudéjar tower is the most striking feature: some thirty metres of brick raised in the mid-14th century, with arrow slits framed in blind horseshoe arches. Tradition holds that Alfonso XI ordered the Gothic building raised in thanks for the victory at the siege of Algeciras (1344). The most colourful figure arrived in the 17th century: Genaro Andreini, a Calabrian priest who staged exorcisms here until the Holy Office sent him back to Calabria. Quevedo did not miss the chance to mock him.

Its names

  • sin nombre registradoanterior a 1656
  • Calle del Condestable / Costanilla del Condestable15th-17th centuries (fecha exacta no consta)
  • Calle de la Palma / Costanilla de la Palmadocumentada en 1769
  • Costanilla de San Pedro19th century (consolidado tras 1891)
Sources (8)

Crossings