Plaza de las Cortes
Named after the Cortes: on the death of Ferdinand VII, they began meeting in the remains of the Convento del Espíritu Santo that stood on the site, and the square took its name from that function. The Congress of Deputies palace that presides over it today came later.
From the 16th century the site held a convent of minor clerics of the Holy Spirit, until a fire largely consumed it in 1823. The ruins stood for a decade.
After Ferdinand VII’s death, in 1833 the Cortes fitted out those remains as a chamber, and from that parliamentary function the square inherited its name. The definitive palace of the Congress came later: foundation stone in 1843, inauguration in 1850.
On 20 July 1823, a violent fire destroyed the church of the Convent of the Holy Spirit while the Duke of Angoulême was hearing Mass; the absolutist Regency decreed a commemorative medal on 25 September 1823 for the soldiers who brought him to safety. The convent, by then uninhabited, was given over in 1834 to house the sessions of the Estamento de Procuradores, the direct origin of the square’s name.
Its names
- Calzada del Espíritu Santoh. finales 16th century – 18th century
- Plaza de Santa Catalina18th century – h.1824
- Plaza del Estamento de Próceresh.1835
- Plaza de las Cortesh.1834 – actualidad
Sources (9)
- Plaza de las Cortes — Wikipedia
- Convento del Espíritu Santo (Madrid) — Wikipedia
- Palacio de las Cortes — Wikipedia
- La Plaza de las Cortes, la elegancia invisible de Madrid — Secretos de Madrid
- Plaza de las Cortes – Madripedia
- Estamento de Procuradores – Wikipedia
- BNE – Vista del Palacio de las Cortes, en la plaza que fue de Santa Catalina
- El Convento del Espíritu Santo, sus huellas bajo el Congreso de los Diputados – Arte en Madrid
- Salón del Trono – El Duque de Angulema y el incendio del Espíritu Santo