Calle de la Moneda

In the Estrella neighborhood almost every street looks to the sky: the constellations, the North Star, the Southern Cross, the Flying Fish. The calle de la Moneda breaks that stellar map and points to something more earthly, coined money. The name comes from a housing settlement that the Royal Mint built here, toward the far end of Doctor Esquerdo, to lodge its employees. Those who made the country’s banknotes and coins lived a step from their work. The mint’s mark did not stop at a single street: around it grew the calle de los Valores, the calle de la Calcografía, and the Patio de Imprenta, names drawn from the trade itself. Today the signs run one after another. The attentive visitor discovers they have entered, without knowing it, the old home of those who minted Spain’s money.