Iglesia de San Sebastián: The Writers' Parish
Why is it significant?
From the bustle of Calle de Atocha, look for the church set back from the pavement, its tower rising above the street. It does not look like much from outside, and that is the point: this was simply the local parish, and the locals happened to be geniuses.
Key Facts
| Place | Iglesia de San Sebastián: The Writers' Parish |
|---|---|
| Address | Calle de Atocha 39, 28012 Madrid, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.41370, -3.70130 |
| Part of Walk | Madrid's Barrio de las Letras: Cervantes, Lope de Vega & the Writers' Quarter |
| Generated | Generated |
From the bustle of Calle de Atocha, look for the church set back from the pavement, its tower rising above the street. It does not look like much from outside, and that is the point: this was simply the local parish, and the locals happened to be geniuses.
The Barrio de las Letras belonged to the parish of San Sebastián, so the great events in the lives of its residents were written down here, in heavy books, in careful ink. Baptisms, marriages, deaths. Among them is the record of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, in April 1616. The parish priest noted it like any other entry, with no idea that the man in question had written the most famous novel in the world.
Lope de Vega was buried here in 1635, after a funeral so grand that crowds filled the streets. And yet his body is lost. Years later his remains were moved, as was common when a burial lease was not renewed, and they ended up in a common ossuary. The most popular writer of his age, who claimed to have written well over a thousand plays, has no grave you can visit.
The registers hold other famous names. The playwright Juan Ruiz de Alarcón was buried here in 1639, and in 1861 the Romantic poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer married in this church. So in one modest parish you have the death of Cervantes, the burial of Lope and the wedding of Bécquer... three centuries of Spanish literature in a stack of ledgers.
The church itself suffered badly during the Civil War and was rebuilt afterwards, so the walls you see are mostly new; the paper survived better than the stone. Now walk back up to Plaza del Ángel and turn right into Calle de las Huertas. Keep your eyes on the ground as you go... the pavement here has something to say.