Arco de Cuchilleros

Story

At the southwest corner of the Plaza Mayor, a stone arch rises like a tower, bridging the gap between two worlds.

In sixteen seventeen, Juan Gómez de Mora designed the stone staircase and the arch to connect the square with Cuchilleros Street.

Below, the knife makers and swordsmiths worked. It was said that no one could match them in all of Europe.

In seventeen ninety, a fire devastated the Plaza Mayor. Juan de Villanueva redesigned the arch and enclosed the square with arcades on all its sides.

In May of eighteen hundred eight, a friar named Antonio climbed the iron pulpit

and shouted to the people to rebel against Napoleon.

The arch remains one of the ten entrances to the Plaza Mayor. These stairs rise from the level of the knife makers to the Plaza de los Austrias.

Listen to the full guide and I'll tell you everything, from the sixteenth-century guild to the caves of the bandit Luis Candelas.