Plaza de la Virgen de la Paloma

La Latina·Palacio

The square takes its name from the Virgin of la Paloma, a popular devotion to Our Lady of Solitude venerated in this La Latina neighbourhood since 1787. The epithet “de la Paloma” (of the Dove) derives in turn from the street’s name, which traces back to a 17th-century courtyard where nuns raised the dove that, according to tradition, flew off during a procession of the Virgin of the Marvels in 1627.

The name of this square, facing the red-brick church of the same name, has two layers, and the lower one is the more curious. Calle de la Paloma was earlier called de la Virgen de la Soledad, until around 1627 a bird renamed it: a dove raised in the dovecote of some nuns flew off the day the image of the Virgin of the Marvels was being moved to a neighbouring church. The bird never returned, and the nickname ended up swallowing the street’s name. In 1787 some children found a battered canvas of Our Lady of Solitude. Isabel Tintero, doorkeeper of a tenement, bought it, had it restored and placed it in her doorway with a lamp always lit. The devotion grew so much that a chapel was finished in 1795. Here is the twist: the painting was of Solitude, but people began calling it “Virgin of la Paloma” after the street where it was venerated. The street named the Virgin, not the other way round. The present Neo-Mudéjar church was built between 1896 and 1912. The square is today the heart of the Paloma festivities, and its name is known to all through the zarzuela “La verbena de la Paloma,” premiered in 1894.

Its names

  • Calle de la Virgen de la Soledad1565 – 17th century
  • Calle de la Paloma17th century – actualidad (tramo de calle)
  • Sin plaza diferenciada (calle continua Calatrava–Ventosa)hasta segunda mitad del 20th century
  • Plaza de la Virgen de la Palomasegunda mitad del 20th century – actualidad
Sources (12)

Crossings