Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Torrelaguna

What to see and do in Torrelaguna (Sierra Norte, Madrid): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Torrelaguna

Church of Santa María Magdalena de Torrelaguna 200 m
Watchtower of Arrebatacapas 2.8 km

Towns near Torrelaguna

What to see in Torremocha de Jarama 3.7 km · 1 place
What to see in Patones 5.5 km · 6 places
What to see in Redueña 5.6 km · 1 place
What to see in Uceda 6.7 km · 7 places
What to see in El Berrueco 7.1 km · 3 places
What to see in Cabanillas de la Sierra 7.3 km · 1 place
What to see in La Cabrera 7.5 km · 4 places
What to see in El Vellón 7.6 km · 1 place

Spain › Community of Madrid › Sierra Norte › Torrelaguna

What to see and do in Torrelaguna

Torrelaguna
Village
Torrelaguna is a town in the comarca of the Sierra Norte, in the Community of Madrid, with about 5,000 inhabitants, located at 744 metres above sea level next to the Jarama valley and 61 kilometres from the capital. Its old town, traditionally formed by seven districts or granjerías, was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (an earlier Spanish heritage protection category, forerunner of the BIC) in 1974. The Gothic church of Santa María Magdalena, from the 15th century, presides over the square, and stretches of the old wall are still preserved, along with the pósito (public granary) that Cardinal Cisneros had built in 1515. Nearby, in the municipal area of Patones, stood the original water intake of the earlier Canal de Isabel II, which supplied Madrid until it had to be moved upstream because of seepage in the ground.
Church of Santa María Magdalena de Torrelaguna
Monument
An Isabelline Gothic church, one of the finest examples of this style in the Madrid region, whose construction began in the 15th century and continued throughout the 16th until Cardinal Cisneros completed it; it was consecrated as late as the 17th. It has a basilical plan of three naves covered with Gothic ribbed vaults between buttresses that give onto several chapels, a 15th-century bell tower by Juan Campero and a 16th-century portal of the Resurrection by Juan de Cisniega and Juan Calderón; it preserves baroque and plateresque altarpieces, including a notable main altarpiece. It was declared a historic-artistic monument on 27 April 1983, today a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), and the poet Juan de Mena is buried there.
Public granary of Torrelaguna
Monument
A public granary built in 1515 at the instigation of Cardinal Cisneros to store the town council's grain, and remodelled between the 18th and 19th centuries. Of the original building the facade survives, bearing the cardinal's coat of arms; it is now the town hall.
Watchtower of Arrebatacapas
Monument
A Muslim watchtower at the Arrebatacapas pass, in the municipality of Torrelaguna, one of the six watchtowers of the Jarama that formed the Muslim communications network for the protection of Toledo. It was built in the late 9th or 10th century, under the emirate of Muhammad I or the caliphate of Abd al-Rahman III, as part of the watchtower system of the Middle March of al-Andalus, which watched over the passes of Somosierra, Navacerrada, Fuenfría and Alto del León towards the Manzanares valley. It is a cylindrical structure of masonry and mortar, 19 metres in perimeter and originally 12 or 13 metres high, with its only entrance 2.5 metres above the ground and an interior divided into three floors. Today it is partly in ruins and has been protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1985.
Birth of Cardinal Cisneros
Historical milestone
Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros was born here in 1436; as fray Francisco he rose to archbishop of Toledo, inquisitor general and regent of Castile, founded the University of Alcalá and promoted the Polyglot Bible. The town dedicates to him the so-called Cruz de Cisneros.