Village
Guadalix de la Sierra is a mountain village of about 7,000 inhabitants, 49 kilometres from Madrid, in a valley of the Sierra de Guadarrama watered by the River Guadalix, whose waters are dammed in the Pedrezuela reservoir, formerly called El Vellón. Its limestone relief hides caves such as those of los Alcores, los Lobos and Peñarrubia, and its surroundings of cork oaks, holm oaks and junipers shelter an important colony of white storks and waterfowl on the shores of the reservoir. In the village stands the church of San Juan Bautista, with its 16th-century tower; here Berlanga filmed Bienvenido, Míster Marshall in 1952, and in 2024 a Visigothic funerary basilica with seventy tombs was found.
Monument
The tower of the church of San Juan Bautista is the most distinctive feature of the village of Guadalix de la Sierra: three tiers of granite ashlar separated by mouldings, built in the early 16th century by the stonemasons of the Campero family, father and son, and topped by eight gargoyles shaped as animal figures. The bell chamber opens with two slightly pointed openings on each face. The church's doorway, with a pointed arch formed by several concave archivolts decorated with plant and animal motifs, is the most distinctive feature of the whole ensemble.
Nature
Closed off in 1967 across the River Guadalix, it flooded pastures, drovers' roads and the old Tres Ojos bridge, as well as the original sanctuary of the Virgen del Espinar; its sheet of water completely transformed the landscape of the eastern comarca.
Monument
The original sanctuary was left beneath the waters of the Pedrezuela reservoir in 1967; in 1969 a replacement was built to a design by the architect Miguel Fisac, and in 2002 a third hermitage was inaugurated on the southern slope above the reservoir.
Curiosity
Guadalix de la Sierra was the setting where Luis García Berlanga filmed Bienvenido, Mister Marshall in 1953, with José Isbert, Manolo Morán and Lolita Sevilla as the stars of this critique of postwar Spanish society, released on 4 April of that year at the Callao cinema in Madrid. The film was re-released in the village itself on 20 December 2002, with more than 25,000 viewers, and also left behind a very popular song, the Coplilla de las divisas, sung by Lolita Sevilla. From the balcony of the town hall, Pepe Isbert delivered the most famous speech in Spanish cinema; a sculpture of the actor has occupied that same spot since 2011.
Monument
In October 2024 a team from the Autonomous University of Madrid identified at the site of Santa Ana the foundations of a Visigothic funerary basilica and around seventy graves dated to about the 7th century.
Nature
A limestone cliff looking out over the Pedrezuela reservoir, a rarity in a comarca of granite, riddled with caves and rock shelters. Its climbing routes stay closed from 1 January to 31 July so as not to disturb the birds breeding on its walls.
Curiosity
Luis García Berlanga filmed here in 1952 the picture released the following year, turning the centre of Guadalix into the fictional Villar del Río; the crew spent weeks in the village and hired dozens of locals as extras.
Historical milestone
Bienvenido, Mister Marshall, a 1953 film directed by Luis García Berlanga and starring José Isbert, Manolo Morán and Lolita Sevilla, was shot in the streets and square of Guadalix de la Sierra, which gave shape to the imaginary village of Villar del Río, between 23 September and 18 December 1952. The film, a critique of Spanish society of the time, premiered on 4 April 1953 at the Cine Callao in Madrid, and was re-released in Guadalix itself on 20 December 2002, drawing 25,260 viewers. Also very popular was the Coplilla de las divisas, known as Americanos, sung by Lolita Sevilla. Since 2011 a sculpture of Pepe Isbert has occupied the town hall balcony from which his character harangued the townspeople.
Historical milestone
The closing in 1967 of the dam on the river Guadalix, downstream of the town, flooded meadows and paths and turned a farming and stock-raising village into a summer destination. Beneath its waters was also left the necropolis of El Montecillo.
Food and drink
At the festival of the patron of ploughmen the municipality hands out lemonade and bread with cheese among the residents. The lemonade is a cold drink of wine with fruit and sugar, usual at the spring pilgrimage festivals of the sierra.
Food and drink
On the last day of the patron saint festivities fighting bull meat is stewed with potatoes in cauldrons to be shared out among the residents, a custom shared with other stock-raising villages of the upper Manzanares basin.