Calle de la Cava Baja (Madrid)

Cava Baja Street is a street in Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain, belonging to the Latina district, which is located in the so-called El Madrid de los Austrias. It runs from the Plaza de Puerta Cerrada to the Plaza del Humilladero, and is adjacent and parallel to the Cava Alta, which begins at the Puerta de Moros and ends at Calle de Toledo.

Both Cavas receive their name from the mines that allowed access to the medieval population during the Arab domination, even though their doors were closed.

They were later filled in because they had become a refuge for groups of criminals.

History

In the map of the Portuguese cartographer Pedro Teixeira, Cava Baja appears as Baja de San Francisco (because it is located in the direction of that convent), and Mesonero Romanos called it Cava honda.

In addition to the old shops and artisan workshops of coppersmiths, rope makers, saddlers, coopers, boatmen and saddlers, this Cava was the site of the Real Pósito de Madrid (a large “silo” of the city that was moved to Calle de Alcalá in 1660).

Inns and taverns

La Cava Baja, one of the oldest streets in Madrid, was, since the 17th century, the arrival and departure point for muleteers and carters of the stagecoaches that transported mail to the towns of the province and, beyond, to towns in Toledo, Segovia and Guadalajara.

Even in the 20th century, the “Ordinario de Illescas”, a mule-drawn cart (mule carriage), owned by a long dynasty of carters who had been dedicated to their trade since 1680, still arrived at the Mesón del Segoviano every Friday.

Due to this influx of merchants trying to sell their goods in the San Miguel and Cebada markets, and other travellers from the area who entered through this part of the city, Las Cavas and its surroundings were an area of lodging between the 15th and 19th centuries.