Glorieta de Emilio Castelar

Before this name, the roundabout was called Glorieta del Obelisco, after the monumental fountain raised here in the mid-19th century. The change came from the man whose statue ended up presiding over the junction: Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, born in Cádiz in 1832. Castelar was, above all, a voice. His speeches in the Cortes filled the galleries and were later printed in several languages. That eloquence launched his career: he led the republican opposition and in 1873 took over the executive of the First Republic, becoming its last president. In the small hours of January 2-3, 1874 he lost a vote of confidence, and soon after a military coup wound up the Republic entirely. The monument that gives the name its meaning, by Mariano Benlliure, was unveiled in 1908, paid for by public subscription.