Plaza de la Marina Española

Ópera·Palacio

The name commemorates the Spanish Navy as an institution, recalling its naval campaign in the South Pacific (off Chile and Peru, 1865-1866). Madrid’s city council adopted it in 1943, under Franco, as a corporate tribute to the armed forces. The space had earlier been known by the successive names of the building that presided over it: first the College of Doña María de Aragón (founded 1590), then Plaza de los Ministerios (1835).

Few tourists crossing this inner square, facing the Palacio del Senado and far from any coast, suspect that its maritime name comes from cannon fire in the Pacific. The site began with a convent: in 1590 María de Córdoba y Aragón founded the College of the Encarnación, which people renamed after Doña María de Aragón. Its church held six great canvases by El Greco, now spread across the Prado, and the Cortes of Cádiz met there when they moved to Madrid. Since 1979 the building has housed the Senate. The current name was fixed by the municipal register in 1943, when Franco’s regime filled the street map with tributes to the armed forces. It alluded to the Pacific campaign of 1865 and 1866, when Admiral Méndez Núñez’s fleet bombarded Valparaíso and fought at Callao. From that episode sprang a whole family of Madrid names, starting with the nearby Plaza del Callao.

Its names

  • Vistillas del RíoHasta late 16th century
  • Plaza de Doña María de Aragónc. 1599 – 1835
  • Plaza de los Ministerios1835 – 1943
  • Plaza de la Marina Española1943 – actualidad
Sources (9)

Crossings