Atocha Street is a street in the Centro District, Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain. It runs between the Plaza de la Provincia (adjacent to the Plaza Mayor) and the Paseo del Prado, next to the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (popularly known as the Atocha roundabout). Since the end of the 19th century, it became very popular as it connected the city centre with the Atocha railway station.
History
The name of the street comes from the path, which once led between esparto grass, olive groves and reed beds to the old hermitage of the Virgen de Atocha.
During the time of the Austrians, the path was surrounded on both sides by numerous hospitals, houses of refuge, hermitages, shrines and convents.
Already in the Middle Ages, the city of Madrid could be accessed from the town of Vallecas by a road that ended in the Plaza del Arrabal (now Plaza Mayor) located on the edge of the Madrid wall.
This road was very busy due to the frequent pilgrimages to the hermitage of the Virgen de Atocha, the result of the great devotion of the people of Madrid to the Virgen de Atocha.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the road was surrounded by convents, asylums, and hospitals. Emperor Charles V was the first monarch to begin populating the Santa Cruz suburb that would extend from the Plaza de Santa Cruz to the Puerta de Vallecas (located in the current Plaza de Antón Martín).
However, Calle de Atocha does not appear on the topographical maps of the city until the mid-17th century: as is the case of the Teixeira map.
During the reign of Philip IV of Spain, his wife’s trips on horseback to visit the hermitages in the area were recorded.
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