Village
Municipality of the comarca of Torrijos, in the province of Toledo, whose lordship Alfonso VII handed over in the twelfth century to the Order of the Temple before it fell, after passing through several hands, to the counts of Montalbán; Fernando de Rojas, author of La Celestina, was born here in the fifteenth century, and a museum is devoted to him, and it preserves the Renaissance palace of the counts, where Diego Columbus, viceroy of the Indies, died, and a Franciscan convent of 1570; the market gardens of its vega, the Tagus floodplain, gave fame to a peach that feeds the local canning industry.
Monument
16th-century Renaissance palace in La Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo), located at number 14 of its Plaza Mayor and considered the finest example of civil architecture in the town. It was designed in 1554 by the Toledan architect Alonso de Covarrubias, with a plateresque doorway of Renaissance columns and a trilobed arch bearing the coats of arms of the house. Its construction began in the late 15th century under the Master of Santiago Juan Pacheco and later passed to his descendants; inside it preserves a courtyard with granite arcades and coffered ceilings of Cuenca pine in Mudéjar and plateresque style. In 1526 Diego Colón, son of Christopher Columbus and viceroy of the Indies, died in the palace. Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1991, the former Casa Clavería, from the 17th century, forms part of the complex.
Monument
The Torre de San Miguel, in La Puebla de Montalbán, is a brick tower dated 1604, directed by the master builder Cristóbal Ortíz with Herrerian influences, raised where an earlier tower of 1575 by Hernández González had stood. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) on 2 March 1993. It is a tall and solid construction of rubblework, ashlar and brick, square in plan, with four levels and a hip roof: the first, with rusticated corners, preserves on its west face a round arch now blocked up; the following three are of brick, with pilasters and pediments on the second and third and semicircular arches on the fourth. Today it stands next to a cemetery and is the town's most recognisable silhouette as one approaches it.
Monument
Renaissance building constructed in 1570 by order of the sister of Cardinal Pacheco and her nephew, raised on former houses on the outskirts of the town of La Puebla de Montalbán. In late Renaissance style, it has a cloister and conventual quarters, and its church, of a single nave, preserves an altarpiece dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. It suffered deterioration with the disentailment and the Civil War; in 1878 it became a school run by the Franciscan Missionaries of the Philippines, whose studies were validated by a royal order of 1879, and it continues to operate as an educational centre to this day.
Monument
The Museo La Celestina, in La Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo), is dedicated both to the work of Fernando de Rojas, a native of the town, and to the image of the city in the author's time (1473-1541). It opened in 2003 in a building on the Avenida de Madrid built in the late 19th century, which functioned as a hospital between 1900 and 1962, was donated to the town council in 1912 and, after serving as a school and headquarters of cultural associations, was fitted out as a museum. Its most notable collection, the V Centenario, brings together 32 canvases by Teo Puebla illustrating the actions of the characters of La Celestina, along with 73 preparatory drawings, joined by old photographs, farming implements, traditional costumes and various editions of the work.
Curiosity
The author of La Celestina was born in La Puebla de Montalbán in the 15th century. A granite statue commemorates him in a square in the town.
Activity
Festival held since 1999 in La Puebla de Montalbán, from 17 to 26 August, with theatrical performances of La Celestina in the caves of the town, of small capacity, between 10 and 15 people each, and a final performance in the Plaza Mayor after a walk through the streets to the Torre de San Miguel. Professional actors take part alongside residents of the town, and tickets are sold at the Museo de La Celestina.
Activity
The Fiestas del Cristo de la Caridad of La Puebla de Montalbán have been celebrated since 16 July 1598, in fulfilment of a vow made by the town after a plague that nearly depopulated it. They take place from 14 to 18 July, with a verbena on the 14th and the main procession on the 16th in honour of the image of the Cristo de la Caridad, patron of the municipality, venerated in its hermitage. Among the traditional bullfighting festivities are the vaca del aguardiente, encierros through several streets and the vaca enmaromada, together with performances by local theatre groups and the municipal musical ensemble.
Historical milestone
Alfonso VII handed the seigneury of Montalbán in the twelfth century to the Order of the Temple, which fortified the bank of the Tajo. With the order dissolved, the domain passed through the hands of Pedro I and of the constable Álvaro de Luna before falling to the counts of Montalbán.
Food and drink
The market gardens of the bank of the Tajo gave fame to a peach of firm flesh that is picked at the end of summer, alongside the apricot. A good part of the harvest feeds the canning and juice industries installed in the town itself.