Lavapiés

Lavapiés is one of the oldest neighborhoods of Madrid. It was the Jewish quarter of the city until 1492. Even the church of San Lorenzo was built on the former site of the synagogue.The name literally means "wash feet", and seems to refer to the ritual washing before entering the temple.

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.

Lavapies happens also to be the place where a significant number of people related with arts, musics and the like, are living, mainly because it´s a cheap place.

Lavapies is also where El Rastro (a huge flea market) takes place on Sundays.

photo wikipedia.org