Plaza del Humilladero

La Latina·Palacio

The square takes its name from the humilladero (a wayside shrine) that stood at the exit of the Puerta de Moros, at the start of the street of the same name. The Confraternity of the Vera Cruz, founded around the 13th century in the nearby convent of San Francisco el Grande, raised a cross there that served as the first station of the Vía Crucis up to the town’s Calvary. Mesonero Romanos calls it the Humilladero of Our Lady of Grace; the more widespread tradition names it the Humilladero of San Francisco, crediting its erection to the saint himself during his stay in Madrid around 1214-1217.

In the heart of the old Morería, this square appeared as its own space on neither Texeira’s 1656 map nor Espinosa’s of 1769: both merged it with the Plaza de San Andrés or that of Puerta de Moros. Only in the late 18th century did it acquire a name, and until 1881 it was a little square, not a full one. A humilladero was the cross or holy image set at the entrance and exit of towns so travelers would bare their heads as they passed. The Confraternity of the Vera Cruz, based in the Franciscan convent, chose this spot as the start of its Good Friday Vía Crucis, which left San Francisco el Grande and ended at the town’s Calvary. As one of the few open gaps in the medieval maze, each August it took in much of the bustle of the Verbena de la Paloma festival. And here Agustina de Aragón lived in her final years, on the calle del Humilladero, as one of the city’s diamond-shaped plaques recalls.

Its names

  • Humilladero de San Francisco / Humilladero de Nuestra Señora de GraciaSiglos 16th-18th
  • Plazuela del HumilladeroFinales 18th century - 1880
  • Plaza del Humilladero1881 - actualidad
Sources (8)

Crossings