Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Mancha de Toledo, in the province of Toledo, whose church of el Divino Salvador was begun in 1531, at the moment of the town's greatest strength within the Priory of Saint John, an impetus to which the convent of Santa Clara, founded in 1656, also answers; saffron marks its identity — it keeps alive the stripping of the flower and devotes an ethnographic museum to it — and among its heritage are the underground dwellings dug out within the built-up area and a nineteenth-century adobe bullring.
Monument
16th-century windmill, catalogued as being around four hundred years old and considered of touristic interest, which makes it one of the oldest still preserved in La Mancha. It is today the only one left fully standing in Madridejos, with its complete machinery. It belongs to José-Luis Doctor García, who inherited it from his ancestors, who used it for milling until the mid-20th century. The surroundings have been fitted out for leisure, with a covered gallery displaying traditional ethnological objects.
Monument
Underground dwellings dug into the subsoil of Madridejos's town centre, an example of the popular La Mancha architecture shared with other towns in the district. They are reached by a descending ramp or a paved lane leading to a small entrance and a corridor, along whose sides the rooms are arranged. Being underground, the interior temperature is very constant, keeping warmth in winter and a comforting coolness in summer; the silos arose as an adaptation to the climate by families of scant means.
Monument
The bullring of Madridejos, in La Mancha de Toledo, was opened in 1879: it is an example of late-19th-century popular architecture built of limewashed earth, with brick reinforcements in some sections. It has an oval floor plan, in the manner of Greek amphitheatres: the north terracing was dug out of the ground itself, and with the excavated earth the pillars of the south terracing were raised, an unusual solution for adapting to the slope. On the outside it presents a smooth, closed wall, reinforced by buttresses that give it the look of a great toothed wheel. It includes corrals and similar attached outbuildings. It is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) and is being restored to become a bullfighting museum.
Monument
The Museo del Azafrán de Madridejos occupies the former convent of San Francisco, founded in 1612, and was opened in September 2008 on the initiative of the Town Council and the Asociación Cultural El Carpío. It traces the whole cultivation process, from preparing the soil and planting to picking the flower, roasting and selling the saffron, with sections devoted to its culinary and medicinal uses, in a town traditionally a major producer of this flower.
Curiosity
The cultivation of saffron marks the identity of Madridejos, which has been a major producer of this flower and keeps alive the tradition of the monda de la rosa, a task carried out after the October harvest that consists of extracting the pistils from the freshly cut flowers, traditionally at communal gatherings around a table. The municipality dedicates to this activity the Saffron and Ethnographic Museum, opened in September 2008 in the former San Francisco convent, which covers the whole process, from the preparation of the soil to the sale of saffron, and also includes its culinary and medicinal uses.
Activity
Processions organised by the five active confraternities of the municipality: Santo Sepulcro y Prendimiento de Jesús, Nuestra Señora de la Soledad y Virgen de los Dolores, Jesús Nazareno y Nuestra Señora de la Piedad, Santísimo Cristo del Prado, and San Juan de Jerusalén. The events run from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday, with the Via Crucis and the Procession of Silence on Good Friday. Each confraternity has its own drum and bugle band.
Activity
Main fair of Madridejos, in Toledo's La Mancha, traditionally held since the town obtained its town charter (villazgo) in the 16th century, from 13 to 17 September around the Santísimo Cristo del Prado. It began as a livestock market under the arcades of the square and today brings together processions and masses, bullfights, the release of young bulls, fireworks and the traditional Manchegan masses. On the eve, an old masquerade is revived simulating a mock battle between Moors and Christians on horseback, and in the days before, local residents go through the streets asking for donations for the festival raffle.
Monument
The works on the parish church began in 1531, at the moment of greatest prosperity of the villa within the Priory of Saint John. To the same impulse responds the convent of Santa Clara, founded in 1656 in the centre of the old town.