Plaza_de_Colón,_panorama,_Madrid,_España,_2015

The Calle de Génova is a street in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. It is the dividing line between the neighbourhoods of Justicia and

Almagro Almagro () may refer to: People *Diego de Almagro (1475–1538), Spanish explorer *Diego Almagro II (1520–1542), assassin of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro *Luis Almagro (born 1963), Uruguayan lawyer, diplomat and politician *Nicolás ...

, in the respective districts of

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...

and

Chamberí Chamberí is a district of Madrid, Spain. It is further subdivided into six neighborhoods ( Gaztambide, Arapiles, Trafalgar, Almagro, Ríos Rosas and Vallehermoso). The district junta is headquartered at the . The current urban outline was born ...

. It runs from the Plaza de Alonso Martínez to the

Plaza de Colón Plaza de Colón (''Columbus Square'', in English) is located in the encounter of Chamberí, Centro and Salamanca districts of Madrid, Spain. This plaza and its fountain commemorate the explorer Christopher Columbus, whose name in Spanish was Cri ...

Name

The street was called the Ronda de Santa Bárbara until 1859 and the Ronda de Recoletos until 1 October 1886, when the

City Council of Madrid The City Council of Madrid ( es, Ayuntamiento de Madrid) is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the Madrid, the capital and biggest city of Spain. The City Council is composed by three bodies; the Mayor who leads the City Council an ...

renamed it after

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, the birthplace of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

, whose name is carried by the square at its end.

Features

Historically, the street was in the outskirts of the city between two entrance gates erected in the 18th century: the Puerta de Santa Bárbara and the

Puerta de Alcalá The Puerta de Alcalá is a Neo-classical gate in the Plaza de la Independencia in Madrid, Spain. It was a gate of the former Walls of Philip IV. It stands near the city center and several meters away from the main entrance to the Parque del Bue ...

, of which only the latter remains. Up until the 20th century, it had many convents and palaces. The street is now known for the

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

of the People's Party, resident at number 13 since 1983, when the party was the People's Alliance. The building, at the corner with the Calle de Zurbano, was formerly the Palace of the Marquises of Bedmar. "Génova" is used as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

by the Spanish media for the national leadership of the party. In September 2015, the seat of the

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...

national court was opened at Calle Génova, though its official address is through the entry door at 1 Calle García Gutiérrez. There is a plaque at number 24 to mark the birthplace in 1903 of

José Antonio Primo de Rivera José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella (24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936), often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish politician who founded the falangist Falange ...

, founder of

Falangism Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las JONS, Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de la ...

. At number 26, there is the Palacio de Gamazo, an 1888 work by

Ricardo Velázquez Bosco Ricardo Velázquez Bosco (1843–1923) was a Spanish architect, archaeologist and scholar. Velázquez's most notable architecture was erected in Madrid, buildings such as the Palacio de Cristal and the Palacio de Velázquez (both in the Parqu ...

that is classed as a

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense) and inclu ...

. Twin skyscrapers designed by

Antonio Lamela Antonio Lamela Martínez (December 1, 1926 – April 1, 2017) was a Spanish architect. Biography and works Lamela was born in Madrid. He graduated from the Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM) in 1954 and received his doctor ...

and finished in 1976, the

Torres de Colón Columbus Towers or Torres de Colón is a highrise office building composed of twin towers located at the Plaza de Colón in Madrid, Spain. The building constructed in 1976 was designed by the architect Antonio Lamela. The building with its 116- ...

are at number 31, at the corner with the

Paseo de la Castellana Paseo de la Castellana, commonly known as La Castellana, is a major thoroughfare in Madrid, Spain. Cutting across the city from South to North, it has been described as the "true structuring axis" of the city. History and description The street ...

near the Plaza de Colón. José Luis Sánchez Fernández's sculpture ''Herón'' is situated outside, and in an island halfway across the road is '' Woman with Mirror'', donated by

Fernando Botero Fernando Botero Angulo (born 19 April 1932) is a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor, born in Medellín. His signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political ...

as the most popular piece from his 1994 exhibit. File:Madrid_-_La_sede_nacional_del_Partido_Popular_(PP),_en_la_calle_Génova,_13.jpg, Headquarters of the People's Party File:Audiencia-Nacional-141115.jpg, Audiencia Nacional File:Torres_de_Colón,_Madrid,_2017-11-01,_Triplecaña_04.jpg, Torres de Colón File:Herón (1975), José Luis Sánchez, Torres de Colón (Madrid).jpg, ''Herón File:Mujer_con_espejo,_Botero,_Madrid_(03).jpg, ''Woman with Mirror''

References

{{reflist Streets in Madrid Almagro neighborhood, Madrid Justicia neighborhood, Madrid