Plaza de Santa Ana & the Teatro Español

Why is it significant?

Step into the square and take in the terraces, the trees, the pigeons, and at the eastern end, the pale classical facade of the Teatro Español.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step into the square and take in the terraces, the trees, the pigeons, and at the eastern end, the pale classical facade of the Teatro Español. Near one end sits Pedro Calderón de la Barca in white stone; near the other, in bronze, a young Federico García Lorca holds out a small bird, as if he were about to set it free.

This square did not exist until 1810. It was opened by Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, during his brief reign as king of Spain. He demolished a Carmelite convent to clear it, and he cleared so many convents for squares that Madrileños nicknamed him Pepe Plazuelas, Joe Little Squares. He did, at least, leave the city some air.

The theatre is far older than the square. In 1583 a corral de comedias opened on this very spot, the Corral del Príncipe: an open courtyard surrounded by houses, where the audience stood in the yard, women watched from their own gallery, and the rowdiest men at the back decided with their whistles whether a play lived or died. Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderón all saw their plays performed here. The building has been rebuilt several times, but there has been a theatre on this spot for more than four centuries.

In December 1934, Lorca's tragedy Yerma premiered in this theatre. Less than two years later, at the start of the Civil War, he was shot by Nationalist forces near Granada; his body has never been found. The statue was placed here in 1998, a hundred years after his birth, and children still climb on it.

Now cross to the far western side of the square and follow the streets down past the little Plaza del Ángel to Calle de Atocha. There, behind a modest gate, a church holds the paperwork of two of the greatest lives in Spanish literature.