Lavapiés
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Lavapiés is a barrio of the city of Madrid, centred on Plaza de Lavapiés.
It was the Jewish quarter of the city until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, the church of San Lorenzo being built on the former site of the synagogue. The name literally means "wash feet", and seems to refer to the ritual washing of one's feet before entering the temple, possibly in the fountain in Plaza de Lavapiés.
It has long been a neglected area of the city. An inscription on a fountain in Plaza de Cabestreros is the only monument to the Spanish Republic in Madrid, such mentions having been systematically removed elsewhere during the Franco regime. The ruins of Escuelas Pías, a religious school, were left to stand for many years after it was burned down by supporters of the Popular Front in 1936, only being demolished in 2002.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Lavapiés had acquired a reputation as a "vertical slum", with its tenement blocks either empty or occupied by older people paying low rents. As a result, it became the most important location for okupación, or squatting, in Madrid.
More recently, it has become the focal point for immigrant populations, particularly Chinese, Arabs and people from the Indian subcontinent. It has been estimated that around 50% of the population is of foreign origin.
At the end of the 1990s, a programme of urban renewal was begun, in the hope of bringing in more prosperous residents attracted to its Bohemian atmosphere. The resulting sharp increase in rents has driven out much of its previous population.
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