Colmenar de Oreja

The earliest settlements here were Iron Age, when Carpetani tribes occupied caves in the Tajo escarpments and the site known as Los Castrejones. The area enters recorded history dramatically: both Polybius and Livy describe a battle on the Tajo in which Hannibal defeated 100,000 Carpetani, Olcades and Vaccaei warriors by crossing the river at night at the point still called the Vado de Aníbal. A Carthaginian sword found among the battle remains was later presented to King Philip II.

After the Roman conquest, Julius Caesar divided the fertile Vega lands among his veterans, who established rural villas. The most significant was Aurelia, a Roman, Hispano-Roman and Visigothic city built beside the Vado de Aníbal, considered the direct ancestor of modern Colmenar. The town itself existed even then as a small settlement producing honey and, above all, quarrying limestone — evidenced by a Roman altar stone made from Colmenar limestone, now held in the Archaeological Museum of Toledo.

Arab forces built a castle at Aurelia during their occupation. After repeated conquests and reconquests, Alfonso VII captured the castle and city personally in 1139, immediately granting the Fuero del Castillo de Oreja on 3 November of that year — a legal charter that became a model for those later issued to Toledo and Madrid, and which is preserved in the Archivo Histórico Nacional. In 1171 Alfonso VIII handed jurisdiction over much of the territory, including the castle and its villages, to the Order of Santiago. The Order's policy of consolidating scattered settlements caused Colmenar to grow, while the villages of Castellanos, San Miguel and San Pedro disappeared.

In the 15th century the town became briefly central to Castilian politics: following the events of the Toros de Guisando, Henry IV set up his royal court here. Both Henry IV and Isabella issued numerous royal resolutions signed and dated at Colmenar de Oreja, and it was in the church of Santa María la Mayor that the Count of Tendilla nailed his famous manifesto in support of Juana la Beltraneja. Supporters and opponents of Princess Isabella later made peace at the Vistas de Colmenar de Oreja.

Under the Habsburgs the town grew steadily. Carlos V granted Diego de Cárdenas the title of first Lord of Colmenar de Oreja in 1540, and the lordship became a county in 1625. Between 1500 and 1700 the Habsburg kings authorised or undertook the town's most significant building works: enlargement of Santa María la Mayor (1517), repair of the walls (1517), irrigation of the Vega (1572), foundation of the Franciscan Monastery of San Bernardino de Siena (1570), and foundation of the Monastery of La Encarnación of the Augustinian Recollects (1685). Industries including limestone quarrying, tinaja (large jar) manufacture, wax-making, esparto working and weaving all flourished in this period.

The Plaza Mayor is the natural starting point. Construction began in 1676 and was completed in 1794, producing one of the finest examples of the traditional Castilian arcaded square. The town hall and the old granary (Pósito) are built into it. Its southern side opens onto the Jardines de Zacatín, a stone tunnel of the same name that passes under the square from end to end, and a set of stone drinking troughs. The square has been used as a location for numerous films and television series, and during the May and September festivals a portable wooden bullring with stands is erected here for bullfighting events.

A hundred metres from the plaza stands the Church of Santa María la Mayor, built by the Order of Santiago in local limestone quarried nearby. Constructed in the second third of the 15th century and enlarged in the second half of the 16th, it was restored in 2008, when its paintings were treated and the floor replaced. In 2009 it gained an organ built by German organist Gerhard Grenzing, donated in its entirety by a local resident, María Pérez García. The church also contains murals by the painter Ulpiano Checa.

The Museo Ulpiano Checa holds the largest collection of work by the local painter Ulpiano Checa (1860–1916), focusing on late 19th-century historical painting, Orientalist work and genre scenes. The restored and enlarged building is approached through maintained gardens that also contain a bust of the painter and a monument to the two things most associated with the town: stone and the tinaja.

The Ermita del Cristo del Humilladero is considered the town's third most important monument and is the patron shrine of the local people. It combines a small 17th-century chapel on a Latin cross plan with a tiny dome over the crossing, and a later baroque addition — a larger structure by Bartolomé Valtierra placed in front of it — along with a camarín behind, a sacristy on the left, and chaplain's rooms on the right.

The Convento de la Encarnación del Divino Verbo, known locally as the Convento de las Monjas, belongs to the Augustinian Recollect nuns. Built around the mid-17th century and founded in 1636 by Diego de Cárdenas and Catalina Ponce de León, it covers more than 7,000 square metres and consists of three wings and a kitchen garden.

The Teatro Municipal Diéguez occupies the building of the former Hospital de la Caridad, which served in earlier times as a theatre known first as a corral de comedias and later as the Teatro de la Caridad. It now bears the name of Antonio Diéguez Cruz.

Colmenar de Oreja is accessible only by road. From Madrid, take the A-3 and exit onto the M-404 at km 50 (Villarejo de Salvanés) via Belmonte de Tajo, then the M-303; or take the M-307 at km 21 before Arganda del Rey, then the M-311 and M-313 through Chinchón; or take the A-4 to Aranjuez then the M-305 and M-318. Bus options: line 337 (Conde Casal–Chinchón–Valdelaguna, La Veloz, tel. 914097602); line 415 via Pinto (La Veloz, same number); line 416 from Valdemoro (La Veloz, same