Walking by the Barrio de las Letras: Huertas curiosities.

El Barrio de las Letras, home to poets, dramatists, and literary creators since the 17th Century to nowadays, holds a wide variety of secrets and curiosities that you might not even know. If you would like to know a bit more about one of the neighbourhoods with the most history in Madrid, keep on reading.

Information and curiosities of Barrio de las Letras

El Barrio de las Letras (i.e. The letres neighbourhood) also known as the Muse neighbourhood or Parnassus neighbourhood has over 5 centuries of existence. And all that time reunites a wide variety of curiosities.

• The name of the neighbourhood comes from its great literary activity, principally in the Spanish Golden Age. Through its streets have passed and lived important writers such as Tirso de Molina, Calderón de la Barca, Cervantes, Quevedo or Lope de Vega. In this neighbourhood you could also find several comedy “corrales” where you could enjoy love and vengeance stories.
• In the 17th Century the area was known as “Huertas del Prado”. The name “Huertas” come from the farming fields that you could find in the area on those times.
• In Cervantes street lived and died the popular writer. In this same street you could find the House-Museum Lope de Vega, where the dramatist lived and wrote some of his best plays.
• In Plaza del Ángel was built in the 18th Century a palace for the Tepa Counts. In the ground floor there used to be the well-known Fonda de San Sebastián. A place similar to a inn where intellectuals of the era of Jovellanos, Campoamor, Goya, Larra or Espronceda were brought together. Here two of the most important plays of the Spanish theatre were premiered: “El sí de las niñas”, from Leandro Fernández de Moratín, and “Cartas Marruecas” from José Cadalso.
• In the Plaza de Las Cortes you can find the only musical carillon of the capital in front of the Palace Hotel. It’s composed by 18 bells and 5 mobile figurines from the times of the painter Francisco de Goya (amongst them, The Duchess of Alba)

Did you already know these things of Barrio de las Letras. A place with a lot of charm, ideal to walk and discover even more secrets