Calle del Duque de Medinaceli

The palace that named this street began as another nobleman’s whim. It was raised by the Duke of Lerma, favourite of Philip III, before the property passed to the Medinaceli, who lived in it for almost three centuries. The Napoleonic invasion left it battered. When the fifteenth duke died in 1873, the great house stood empty and fell into ruin until the picks arrived. Demolition ended in 1910, and on the corner facing the paseo del Prado rose the Hotel Palace. With the site cleared, the City extended the old calle de Jesús to the plaza de las Cortes and named the new stretch after the duke. The palace had its own ducal chapel, where an image of Jesus of Nazareth was venerated. That carving gave rise to the basilica of Jesús de Medinaceli, one of the most visited devotions in the city.