Paseo del Prado

Barrio de las Letras·Cortes

The name comes from the so-called Prado de los Jerónimos, the wild meadows and grounds around the Monastery of San Jerónimo el Real, established on its final site in 1503. These meadows marked the eastern edge of the medieval city and were crossed by the Castellana stream. Philip II drove the area’s first redevelopment around 1570; Charles III turned it into the great neoclassical boulevard between 1763 and 1786, the work of José de Hermosilla and Ventura Rodríguez.

Before it was a promenade it was a meadow. The name comes from the Prado de los Jerónimos, the wild grassland around the Monastery of San Jerónimo el Real that marked the eastern edge of the medieval city, crossed by the Castellana stream. There were in fact three meadows in a row —⁠Prado de Atocha to the south, the Jerónimos one in the middle, Prado de Recoletos to the north⁠— together known as the Prado Viejo, where Madrid came out for air. Charles III turned it into a boulevard between 1763 and 1786: he channelled the stream, lined up the trees and set the fountains of Cibeles, Neptune and Apollo. By around 1820 the name paseo had overtaken Salón del Prado. When the museum facing the avenue opened in 1819, it did not lend the promenade its name —⁠it borrowed one. The meadow has no grass left, but it still names the most painted avenue in Madrid.

Its names

  • Prado de Atocha / Prado de los Jerónimos / Prado de Recoletos (tres tramos diferenciados)h. 13th century – h. 1561
  • Prado Viejo (denominación común de los tres tramos)h. 16th century – 1763
  • Salón del Prado1767 – h. 1820
  • Paseo del Pradoh. 1820 – actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings