Plaza Reyes Magos

Where the Niño Jesús neighborhood stands today, a train once ended its run. The Niño Jesús station was the terminus of the railway linking Madrid with Arganda, opened in 1886 and closed in 1964. On that railway land, Inmobiliaria Urbis began planning the neighborhood in 1947. The street layout turned out to be a story. Whoever walks it in order reads the Nativity cycle street by street: Anunciación, Portal de Belén, Reyes Magos, Niño Jesús and Nazaret. The square acts as a hinge in this residential fabric and, beneath it, holds the public car park of the same name. The curious thing is how much we take for granted about these Magi. The Gospel of Matthew does not say how many there were, nor what they were called, nor that they were kings. Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar appear by name for the first time in a mosaic in Ravenna, around the middle of the 6th century. Everything else came later.