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Church of Santa María la Mayor de Colmenar

Colmenar de Oreja, Las Vegas, Madrid

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Church of Santa María la Mayor de Colmenar

Monument · Colmenar de Oreja, Las Vegas, Madrid

Church of Santa María la Mayor de Colmenar

Catholic temple begun in the mid-13th century by the Order of Santiago, in limestone quarried from the quarries of the municipal district of Colmenar de Oreja itself; it was founded in 1171 by Pedro Fernández de Fuentecalada, first master of the Order, to which it belonged until 1540, and enlarged in the 16th century to reach its present size, with portals and a tower commissioned to Pedro Artadi following models by Juan de Herrera. It has a stone exterior with the air of a fortress and a Gothic-style interior, with three portals of Ionic, Tuscan and Doric orders, and preserves murals by Ulpiano Checa. Restored between 2004 and 2007, it received the Europa Nostra Award for European Heritage in 2009 -the year in which a German-made organ was also installed- and in 2020 it was declared Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).

Photo: Zarateman (CC0)

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