Plaza de San Nicolás

Los Austrias·Palacio

The square takes its name from the parish of San Nicolás de Bari, which occupied the site from at least the 12th century and which the 1202 charter of Madrid lists among the town’s ten original parishes. Saint Nicholas was bishop of Myra (Asia Minor) in the 4th century; his relics were moved to Bari (Italy) in the 9th century, from which the church derives the epithet “de Bari.”

Before the south front of the church of San Nicolás de Bari, in the heart of Habsburg Madrid, opens this irregular widening that takes its name from the church. And the church is worth pausing over: it is the oldest non-military building still standing in Madrid. The oldest part is the tower. Of brick, with blind arcading of Islamic design, it has raised its silhouette since the 12th century. Inside it holds a surprise: here in 1533 was baptised Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, future author of La Araucana, and in 1597 Juan de Herrera, chief architect to Philip II, was laid in the crypt. The church went through ups and downs that nearly consigned it to oblivion —⁠warehouse and barracks during the Napoleonic occupation⁠— until in 1825 the Third Order of the Servites rescued it, leaving it the name by which it is still known, San Nicolás de los Servitas. Today it is the personal Italian-speaking parish of Madrid.

Its names

  • San Nicolás de Bari12th century – 1825
  • San Nicolás de los Servitas1825 – actualidad
  • Plaza de San Nicolás16th century – actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings