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What to see and do in Pelayos de la Presa

What to see and do in Pelayos de la Presa (Sierra Oeste, Madrid): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Pelayos de la Presa

Towns near Pelayos de la Presa

Spain › Community of Madrid › Sierra Oeste › Pelayos de la Presa

What to see and do in Pelayos de la Presa

Pelayos de la Presa
Village
Pelayos de la Presa is a town of about 3,200 inhabitants situated beside the San Juan reservoir, in the southwest of the Community of Madrid; its economy, tied to the tourism the reservoir attracts, makes the population quintuple in summer. Until the 1916 reform the village was simply called Pelayos. In the mid-19th century it had barely 82 inhabitants. Its great landmark is the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias, founded in the 12th century and declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1983; the village also preserves a pillory converted into a fountain in 1918. It celebrates San Blas on 3 February, with the Noche de las Candelas the evening before, a pilgrimage on the last Saturday of May, and the Asunción festivities in mid-August.
Monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias
Monument
The monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias, also called the monastery of Pelayos, lies north of the arroyo de la Presa, near Pelayos de la Presa. Its construction, by the Cistercian order, dates from 1150, in the 12th century, with improvements from the 15th onward; the 1836 Mendizábal disentailment and the departure of the monks set it on the path to ruin. In 1854 the choir stalls, a Plateresque work by Rafael de León from between 1567 and 1571, were moved, as a gift from Isabella II, to the cathedral of Murcia, after a fire destroyed the previous stalls. The architect Mariano García Benito acquired the ruins in 1974, restored them and donated them to the town council of Pelayos de la Presa in 2003. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) by royal decree of 23 November 1983.
Pillory of Pelayos de la Presa
Monument
Column of justice that marked the town's jurisdiction and which in 1918 was converted into a public fountain; in 2011 it was moved to a new site to restore its prominence and explain its original function as a jurisdictional pillar.
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Pelayos
Monument
A 16th-century church that was left almost destroyed during the Civil War and rebuilt afterwards; its patron saint is at the centre of the village's main festivities around 15 August, with open-air dances and concerts.
Viewpoint of Casa Quemada
Nature
A natural balcony looking out over the San Juan reservoir, from which the meeting of the waters of the Alberche and the Cofio can be made out; it is a good spot for watching birds such as the griffon vulture and the Spanish imperial eagle.
The choir stalls of Pelayos that ended up in Murcia Cathedral
Curiosity
The Plateresque choir stalls that Rafael de León carved for the monastery choir between 1567 and 1571 are no longer here: in 1854 Isabel II gave them to Murcia Cathedral, whose own choir had burned down, and there they have remained ever since.
Founding of the monastery of Valdeiglesias
Historical milestone
Alfonso VII founded Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias by bringing together a dozen small hermitages of the Alberche valley. In 1177 the community joined the Cistercians and from then on it lorded over a good part of the comarca until the disentailment.