Calle de la Oliva

The street is called Oliva Street because of the presence of an olive tree on the site where the street originated.{{Cite web |date=30 June 2017 |title=El punto neurálgico de la ciudad |url=https://pontevedraviva.com/opinion/3058/punto-neuralgico-ciudad-jose-benito-garcia-pontevedra/?lang=es |website=Pontevedra Viva |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=12 June 2022 |title=Los olivos en Galicia son únicos en el mundo |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/blog/milagros-bara/olivos-galicia-son-unicos-mundo/202206121431241205414.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}

After being designated the provincial capital in 1833, in the mid-19th century Pontevedra improved its road links with other Galician cities. Between 1847 and 1851, Oliva Street and the current Rosalía de Castro Street were built, and their extension in the form of a road linked the city to Marín via Mollavao.{{Sfn|Fortes Bouzán|2011|p=386}}{{Sfn|Durán Villa|2000|p=90}}

The 1854 project already included the traditional name of Oliva Street. Traders soon moved into the street and Oliva Street soon became a shopping street. A few years after it opened in Michelena Street in 1856, the famous Suárez jeweller's and watchmaker's shop moved to the corner of Oliva Street and Peregrina Square in 1861.{{Cite web |date=18 June 2021 |title=A los pies de la Peregrina, en Pontevedra, desde hace 160 años |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/pontevedra/2021/06/18/pies-peregrina-160-anos/0003_202106P18C8991.htm |website=La Voz de Galicia |language=es}}

On 25 July 1888, Oliva Street became the first street in Galicia (along with neighbouring Michelena Street) to have public lighting, thanks to the installation of electric arcs and incandescent lamps. This first Galician electricity network was the work of the Marquis of Riestra, who built the first electricity factory in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula in the Verdura square, and who in 1887 obtained a patent for a process for adjusting the dynamos.{{Cite web |date=6 July 2021 |title=El alumbrado público de La Oliva y Michelena, el primero de toda Galicia, cumple 133 años |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/articulo/pontevedra/alumbrado-publico-laoliva-michelena-primero-toda-galicia-cumple-133-anos/202107061707461149443.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}

Between 1889 and 1890, the writer Concepción Arenal lived on the first floor of Oliva Street 27, where she organised a meeting of intellectuals.{{Cite web |date=1 December 2019 |title=Cuando Concepción Arenal vivió en Pontevedra |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/blog/milagros-bara/cuando-concepcion-arenal-vivio-pontevedra/201912012022301063321.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=10 March 2013 |title=La vida de Concepción Arenal en Pontevedra |url=https://www.farodevigo.es/pontevedra/2013/03/10/vida-concepcion-arenal-pontevedra-17508579.html |website=Faro |language=es}}

In 1895, the street was called Elduayen and its course went from the Peregrina square to Mollavao. In 1901, the street reverted to its traditional name of Oliva.

In the first decades of the 20th century, the street was home to well-known printers, bookshops and toy shops: the Francisco Viñas bookshop at number 6, the Julio Antúnez bookshop and printing works next door, and the Melero bazaar at number 13.{{Cite web |date=23 December 2015 |title=La Navidad de hace un siglo en Pontevedra |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/blog/milagros-bara/la-navidad-de-hace-un-siglo-en-pontevedra/20151223144532345571.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=1 November 2020 |title=Imprenta Librería Portela. Eladio Portela Gómez, el fundador (I) |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/blog/milagros-bara/imprenta-libreria-portela-eladio-portela-gomez-fundador-i/202011012020531110796.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}

In 1915, the construction of the new central post office building, located in Oliva Street, began and was completed in 1929.{{Cite web |date=25 August 2019 |title=La Casa de Correos, la obra interminable |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/blog/milagros-bara/casa-correos-obra-interminable/201908251820271049276.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=23 January 2013 |title=A Correos sí, pero sin bebé |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/firmas/2013/01/23/correos-bebe/0003_201301P23C3991.htm |website=La Voz de Galicia |language=es}}

In 1927, when King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie visited Pontevedra, Oliva Street was already a central street in the city.{{Cite web |date=29 May 2022 |title=Cuando Alfonso XIII y Victoria Eugenia visitaron Pontevedra |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/blog/milagros-bara/cuando-alfonso-xiii-victoria-eugenia-visitaron-pontevedra/202205291437261203029.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}

In the 1940s, the street became the main promenade for the youth of Pontevedra. In the 1950s, the street underwent significant commercial development and presented a distinct urban image.{{Cite web |lang=es |title=Los paseos de moda: del Chocolate a la Oliva|url=https://www.farodevigo.es/pontevedra/2021/06/13/paseos-moda-chocolate-oliva-52932193.html|website=Faro |date=13 June 2021}}

In 1961, the first section of the shopping arcades (galerías comerciales) on Oliva Street was inaugurated and in 1965, a second section of the arcades was opened, linking Oliva Street to General Gutiérrez Mellado Street.{{Cite web |date=31 January 2023 |title=Adiós al acceso a las Galerías Oliva desde Gutiérrez Mellado |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/articulo/pontevedra/adios-acceso-galerias-oliva-gutierrez-mellado/202301311958171238014.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=10 September 2011 |title=Medio siglo de las Galerías Oliva. Niní, la primera boutique de la ciudad, fue diseñada por el pintor Alonso Alonso |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2011/09/10/medio-siglo-galerias-olivanini-primera-boutique-ciudad-disenada-pintor-alonso-alonso/0003_201109P10C8994.htm |website=La Voz de Galicia |language=es}} These shopping arcades, designed by the architect Enrique Barreiro to bring together the different traders and to modernise and revitalise commerce, were of great importance at the time.{{Cite web |date=2 October 2011 |title=Medio siglo vendiendo bajo techo |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/articulo/pontevedra-ciudad/medio-siglo-vendiendo-bajo-techo/20111002015000207839.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}

In 1981, Oliva Street underwent its most complete renovation and, on 23 December, it became the first pedestrianised street in the city centre.{{Cite web |date=23 December 2018 |title=Inauguración de la Oliva como calle peatonal |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/pontevedra/2018/12/23/inauguracion-oliva-calle-peatonal/0003_201812P23C11992.htm |website=La Voz de Galicia |language=es}}

In 2001, the pedestrian section of the street was again renovated and in 2002, an olive tree like the one that gave the street its name was placed in front of the central post office building.{{Cite web |date=18 January 2002 |title=Un olivo en la calle de la Oliva |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2002/01/18/olivo-calle-oliva/0003_919291.htm |website=La Voz de Galicia |language=es}}

In 2018, with the opening of a 1700 square metre Gadis supermarket at number 27 of the street where Concepción Arenal lived, the traditional façade of the building has been recovered.{{Cite web |date=30 November 2018 |title=Un nuevo súper «con fachada bonita», wifi y 29 trabajadores |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/pontevedra/2018/11/30/nuevo-super-fachada-bonita-wifi-29-trabajadores/0003_201811P30C4994.htm |website=La Voz de Galicia |language=es}}

It is a street located in the heart of the city centre, which has a straight course of 175 metres and is essentially flat. Its average width is 8 metres.

It is a central street of the first urban expansion of the city, pedestrianised between the Peregrina square, at the edge of the historic centre of Pontevedra, and García Camba street, with a single lane of traffic and two pavements from García Camba street to St. Joseph square.

Several streets converge on it, from north to south: Galerías de la Oliva, García Camba{{Cite web |date=1 September 2019 |title=La trágica suerte de la familia Gay García Camba |url=https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/blog/milagros-bara/tragica-suerte-familia-gay-garcia-camba/201909011845501050200.html |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}} and Marquis of Riestra. It is one of the main streets in the city centre, with many shops.

One of the ends of Oliva Street coincides with Saint Joseph's Square and, at the corner between the square and the street, there are the remains of the Baroque pazo of the Gago de Mendoza and Montenegro families, which currently has two floors. Its pointed battlements stand out in the upper part, decorated in the centre with six-pointed stars inscribed in a circle.{{Sfn|Fontoira Surís|2009|p=342}}

In the middle of Oliva street, on the corner of García Camba Street, is the central building of the city's post office, the headquarters of the Pontevedra provincial post office. The building belongs to the Art Nouveau style that prevailed in the early years of the 20th century. The main entrance is in the form of a chamfered corner with arches supported by classical columns and stone stairs leading to a raised entrance hall. It is decorated with geometric stonework on the façade, particularly on the upper level, with dormers and geometric windows on each level. The upper level, above the main entrance, is crowned by the stone coat of arms of the city.{{Sfn|Fontoira Surís|2009|p=431}} Inside, the building is built around a central space above a public hall, and the use of materials such as glass, wood and plaster, as well as the coloured glass vault, are particularly noteworthy.{{Cite web |date=14 May 2013 |title=El edificio de Correos volvió a la luz |url=http://diariodepontevedra.galiciae.com/noticia/146097/el-edificio-de-correos-volvio-la-luz |website=Diario de Pontevedra |language=es}}

In the street there are several stone houses from the end of the 19th century, such as the one at number 33, with a ground floor for commercial use and one or two floors for residential use, the first with balconies and the second with galleries, a pattern that was repeated in the 19th century in the streets of the city's first urban expansion zone.{{Sfn|Fontoira Surís|2009|p=445-446}}

At number 30 Oliva Street, on the corner of Marqués de Riestra Street, there is a rationalist building by the architect Emilio Salgado Urtiaga.{{Cite web |date=17 May 2013 |title=Edificios singulares |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2013/05/17/edificios-singulares/0003_201305P17C11991.htm |website=La Voz de Galicia |language=es}}

File:Calle de la Oliva - Pontevedra capital.jpg|Oliva Street in 2023

File:Oliva Street in Pontevedra city.jpg|Pedestrianised stretch of Oliva Street

File:Pontevedra-Olivo (4205070801).jpg|alt=Oliveira da rúa da Oliva|Olive tree in Oliva Street.

File:Pontevedra capital Grupo escultórico La Tertulia.jpg|alt=Restos do pazo ameado dos Gago de Mendoza no fondo à esquerda na esquina coa rúa Oliva|Remains of the crenellated pazo of the Gago de Mendoza family in the background, on the left, at the corner of Oliva Street.

File:Pontevedra Capital Correos Entrada Principal.jpg|alt=Edificio de Correos na rúa coa oliveira diante|Central post office in the street with the olive tree in front of the building.

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Rúa da Oliva}}

• {{Cite book |first=Francisco |last=Durán Villa |title=Provincia de Pontevedra |date=2000 |publisher=Mediterráneo |isbn=8471563371 |location=Madrid |page=90 |language=es}}
• {{Cite book |first=Rafael |last=Fontoira Surís |title=Pontevedra monumental |date=2009 |publisher=Diputación de Pontevedra |isbn=9788484573272 |location=Pontevedra |page=342;431;445-446 |language=gl}}
• {{Cite book |first=Xosé |last=Fortes Bouzán |title=Pontevedra. Burgo, villa, capital |date=2011 |publisher=Guiverny |isbn=978-84-939449-1-9 |location=Brión-A Coruña |page=386 |language=es}}

• Ensanche-City Centre
• Peregrina Square
• Pontevedra Central Post Office
• Saint Joseph Square
• García Camba Street

• [https://pontevedra.callejero.net/calle-de-la-oliva.html Oliva Street]

{{Pontevedra landmarks}}

{{Subject bar|portal1=architecture|portal2=Spain}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calle de la Oliva}}

Category:Streets in Pontevedra

Category:Pedestrian streets in Spain