Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Ajalvir

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

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

How far each place is from the centre of Ajalvir

Church of la Purísima Concepción de Ajalvir 100 m

Towns near Ajalvir

Spain › Community of Madrid › Cuenca del Medio Jarama › Ajalvir

What to see and do in Ajalvir

Ajalvir
Village
Ajalvir is a small municipality of farmland northeast of Madrid, with a population of about 4,900 inhabitants. Its Arabic name, fayy al-bi'r, alludes to the wide passage of the well and recalls the old qanat that still runs along the camino de las aguas, between the hills of El Arenal and La Utrera, with its Pozo Madre preserved. Situated 26 kilometres from Madrid and 12 from Alcalá de Henares, it borders Cobeña, Daganzo de Arriba, Paracuellos de Jarama and Torrejón de Ardoz, and its highest peak, Cabeza Gorda, reaches 767 metres. Its square is presided over by the church of la Purísima Concepción, from the 18th century.
Church of la Purísima Concepción de Ajalvir
Monument
Built in the 18th century over an earlier church on the Plaza de la Villa, it has three naves with no transept in plan but with a transept emphasised in height by a dome, as well as a tower and an outer portico.
Qanat of Ajalvir
Curiosity
Beneath the urban core a qanat is preserved, the underground drainage gallery of Arab origin with which groundwater was captured. The village's place name itself comes from Arabic and alludes to a wide pass or well between hills.
Ajalvir ceases to be crown land
Historical milestone
With the papal bull that Felipe II obtained from Pope Gregory XIII, between 1572 and 1585, Ajalvir was split off from the common body of the twenty-five towns of the Archbishopric of Toledo and sold to Baltasar Castaño, becoming a private lordship.