Plaza de Santa Ana

Barrio de las Letras·Cortes

The square was opened in 1810, under Joseph Bonaparte, on the Carmelite convent of San José y Santa Ana, demolished that year. It keeps the name of that house, founded in 1586 by Saint John of the Cross and the nun Ana de Jesús; Saint Anne is, by tradition, the mother of the Virgin.

The French-leaning Madrid of Joseph Bonaparte razed an entire convent to create this square. Church, cloister and gardens filled the whole block, and all of it came down when the government decided to open a breathing space in the centre of the city. The nuns had a reason for placing the church under the dedication of Saint Anne: it matched the name of Anne of Austria, the queen who had paid for part of the work, finished around 1611. When demolition came, the community packed up and moved to Calle del Prado. Not a stone survives of that religious pile. The square is now a civic space presided over by the Teatro Español, with two writers watching over it in bronze: Calderón de la Barca, planted there in 1880, and García Lorca, who arrived in 1996.

Its names

  • Convento de Santa Ana y San José (espacio conventual)1586–1810
  • Plazuela de Santa Anah.1812–1860
  • Plaza del Príncipe Alfonsoseptiembre 1860–octubre 1868
  • Plaza de Topeteoctubre 1868–h.1875
  • Plaza del Príncipe Alfonsoh.1875–1933
  • Plaza de Santa Anaabril 1933–actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings