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Calle Mayor of Alcalá

Alcalá de Henares, Cuenca del Henares, Madrid

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Calle Mayor of Alcalá

Monument · Alcalá de Henares, Cuenca del Henares, Madrid

Calle Mayor in Alcalá de Henares, laid out over the old Roman road to Complutum, was the axis of the Jewish quarter settled here from the 12th century, and even then it was the city's commercial street, with shops at street level and dwellings on the upper floor. It runs in a straight line, from east to west, from Plaza de Cervantes to Plaza de los Santos Niños, next to the cathedral, along 396 metres arcaded on both sides, today with 242 supports, of which only 29 are stone columns: those that around 1500 Cardinal Cisneros had carved with material from Complutum, replacing the wooden posts; the rest are pillars from a 19th-century refurbishment. Pedestrianised since 1986, it preserves six peepholes from old Jewish houses and leads to Cervantes' Birthplace House.

Photo: Pavlemadrid (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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