Calle de San Bartolomé

Chueca·Justicia

The name comes from the apostle Saint Bartholomew, one of the twelve chosen by Jesus, whose feast falls on 24 August. As with most streets around Chueca and Justicia that bear a saint’s name, the toponym reflects the neighbourhood’s popular devotion during the 16th and 17th centuries, when these streets were laid out and named. No religious building, chapel, convent or hospital dedicated to Bartholomew is recorded on this stretch: the street takes its name straight from the calendar of saints, with no documented physical reference in the area.

A mere 159 metres are enough for Calle de San Bartolomé to link two ends of Madrid’s history, running from Plaza de Pedro Zerolo to Calle de Augusto Figueroa, in the heart of Chueca. The squares at either end have changed names several times; the street between them, by contrast, dodged every 19th-century reform and survives intact. The neighbourhood grew without a plan from the 16th century, north of the medieval core, between Hortaleza and Fuencarral. Hence its street calendar of saints: short streets named for saints that answered to the residents' devotion or to the holdings of nearby brotherhoods. Several houses in the area belonged to the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Saint Martin and Saint Bartholomew, though there is no record that this street was theirs. Best not to confuse it with its vanished namesake, another Calle de San Bartolomé in the Barrio de Santiago that fell to Joseph Bonaparte’s demolitions.

Its names

  • Calle de San Bartolomé16th-17th century (primer registro documentado en planos del 18th)
  • Calle de San Bartolomé1769-actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings