Logbook · 41 places

San Ildefonso Major College

Alcalá de Henares, Cuenca del Henares, Madrid

1 Villages · 25 Monuments · 3 Nature · 2 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 4 Historical milestones · 4 Food and drink

Spain › Community of Madrid › Cuenca del Henares › Alcalá de Henares › San Ildefonso Major College

San Ildefonso Major College

Monument · Alcalá de Henares, Cuenca del Henares, Madrid

The founding seat of the University of Alcalá, founded in 1499 by Cardinal Cisneros to the design of Pedro de Gumiel, with the first stone laid on 14 March of that year. Its plateresque façade, carved in stone from Tamajón by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón between 1537 and 1553 and considered one of the most harmonious ensembles of the Spanish Renaissance, is arranged like a three-tiered altarpiece and leads into three linked courtyards, among them that of Santo Tomás de Villanueva. It houses the chapel of San Ildefonso, completed in 1510, where Elio Antonio de Nebrija and Francisco Vallés de Covarrubias are buried. In the Paraninfo, begun in 1516, the Cervantes Prize is presented today. Closed as a residential college in 1798, it is now the university's rectorate.

Photo: Hauser y Menet (Public domain)

What to see and do in Alcalá de Henares