Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Galapagar

What to see and do in Galapagar (Cuenca del Guadarrama, Madrid): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Galapagar

Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Galapagar 250 m
Bridge of el Herreño 6.4 km

Towns near Galapagar

What to see in Colmenarejo 2 km · 5 places
What to see in Torrelodones 6.1 km · 5 places
What to see in Collado Villalba 7.7 km · 4 places
What to see in Hoyo de Manzanares 9.3 km · 11 places
What to see in Alpedrete 9.5 km · 5 places
What to see in Valdemorillo 9.9 km · 5 places
What to see in Villanueva del Pardillo 10 km · 3 places
What to see in El Escorial 10 km · 5 places

Spain › Community of Madrid › Cuenca del Guadarrama › Galapagar

What to see and do in Galapagar

Galapagar
Village
Galapagar is a municipality of the Community of Madrid on the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama, 33 km from the capital, with about 36,700 inhabitants. Part of its territory extends within the regional park of the Middle Course of the River Guadarrama, of Mediterranean and riverside woodland. There is no evidence of Roman population in the municipality, although late Roman and Visigothic remains have been found next to the present-day La Pocilla cultural centre, and the old Arab road of Humayd, mentioned in Muslim sources since the 9th century, passed through here. It was repopulated by knights from Segovia in 1266. Its church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, finished in 1513, is a bien de interés cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), and over the Guadarrama stands the Herreño bridge, the work of Juan de Herrera from 1583.
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Galapagar
Monument
The Catholic parish church of Galapagar, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) of the Community of Madrid on 1 June 1995. Built between the late 15th century and the first third of the 16th and finished in 1513, it was one of a series of churches raised at that time in the Señorío del Real de Manzanares by the dukes of the Infantado, together with those of Manzanares el Real and San Agustín de Guadalix. It is a rural or "abulense" Gothic-style church built mostly in small ashlar masonry, except for the side aisles and sacristies, which are Renaissance and the result of a 17th-century rebuilding after the ribbed vaults collapsed. Of the original fabric, the tower, the apse, the doorway -finished in 1515- and the Toledan tiles of the presbytery survive; its present appearance owes much to rebuildings in the 19th century and in 1960.
Bridge of el Herreño
Monument
16th-century granite bridge attributed to Juan de Herrera, built in the time of Philip II to improve the roads that carried materials and the court to the monastery of El Escorial. It stands out for its width and robustness.
The town charter of Galapagar
Historical milestone
Juana of Castile and Carlos I granted Galapagar the title of town, confirmed in Toledo on 20 April 1529. The municipality afterwards went on losing its old alfoz, from which places such as Colmenarejo, separated in 1630, emancipated themselves.