Plaza de San Andrés

The square was born of death: for centuries it was not a square but the graveyard of the parish of San Andrés, one of the churches the charter of Madrid already named in 1202, probably raised over the main mosque of Islamic Madrid. The lineage of the Vargas gave life to the place. In their palace, next to the parish, Saint Isidore the Labourer lived and died. On his death, around 1172, he was buried in the cemetery, and forty years later Alfonso VIII ordered the grave opened and found the body intact. The tale was carved on the Mosaic Ark the king had made in 1213, the oldest document tying the saint’s fame to this corner. Over the Vargas palace, the Museo de San Isidro opened in 2000. The church had its drama: in 1656 its roof collapsed, and to guard the saint’s relics the Chapel of San Isidro was built between 1657 and 1669, whose Baroque lantern is the first thing arrivals see. In 1936 uncontrolled groups set fire to the interior; it was remade between 1986 and 1990 from old photographs. Today the square is cobblestones, terraces and, at the far end, the lantern of San Isidro.