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What to see and do in San Fernando de Henares

What to see and do in San Fernando de Henares (Área Metropolitana, Madrid): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of San Fernando de Henares

Palace of Aldovea 5.3 km

Towns near San Fernando de Henares

Spain › Community of Madrid › Área Metropolitana › San Fernando de Henares

What to see and do in San Fernando de Henares

San Fernando de Henares
Village
San Fernando de Henares is a Madrid town of around 39,000 inhabitants, located in the Corredor del Henares, 15 kilometers east of the capital, and partly included within the Southeast Regional Park. It arose as a Real Sitio around the Real Fábrica de Paños founded by Ferdinand VI in 1746, from whom it takes its name; it was called San Fernando de Jarama until 1916, when the town council changed its river surname to that of the Henares, although it is the Jarama, not the Henares, that runs alongside the urban center. The territory preserves remains from the Paleolithic and Roman remains linked to nearby Complutum. Its baroque layout of linked squares, with the Plaza de España and the circular square of Ferdinand VI, has been a historic-artistic site since 1983.
San Fernando Royal Cloth Factory
Monument
Textile manufactory of which Ferdinand VI took possession on 30 August 1746, built on a square plan around a large courtyard; its façade, carved by Agustín del Corral and Andrés de las Elgueras, bears an inscription of 1748.
The Enlightenment-era layout of San Fernando de Henares
Curiosity
The town was born planned according to European Baroque schemes, with a square Plaza de España and a circular Plaza de Fernando VI linked by an axis aligned with the façade of the Royal Factory; it has been a historic-artistic ensemble since 1983.
Palace of Aldovea
Monument
A former fortified house of the archbishopric of Toledo converted into a palace: Infante Luis Antonio de Borbón commissioned the present building from the architect Virgilio Rabaglio in the 18th century, and in 1802 the archdiocese sold it to Godoy, who transferred it to Charles IV in 1804. It stands in the area known as Soto de Aldovea, whose origins go back to the Christian Reconquest of the region, when King Alfonso VII granted it to the Archbishopric of Toledo. It has a rectangular plan with towers at the corners and a roof with an overhanging eave; on the main façade, facing east, a doorway flanked by columns bears the coat of arms of the Bourbons beneath a royal crown and a cardinal's hat, in reference to Infante don Luis. During the Spanish Civil War it served as the headquarters of General Miaja in the Battle of the Jarama.
The founding of the Royal Site of San Fernando
Historical milestone
The crown bought the depopulated hamlet of Torrejón de la Ribera in 1746, an acquisition approved by royal decree of Philip V on 29 June of that year, in order to install there a Real Fábrica de Paños (royal cloth factory) meant to reduce Spain's dependence on foreign textiles, together with a newly founded settlement. Ferdinand VI took possession of the Real Sitio on 30 August and appointed as governor Teodoro Ventura de Argumosa, who was familiar with modern European textile techniques. The factory building, bearing an inscription recording the year of its completion, was finished in 1748, facing a uniformly laid-out square with thirty-two brick houses, today's Plaza de España. The factory, not very productive, was moved to Vicálvaro in 1753, although the warehouses remained in San Fernando.