The Charterhouse of Talamanca de Jarama
Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of Monument
The Cartuja de Talamanca de Jarama is an estate that consists of a set of agricultural farms from the 16th century and later and preserves much of the architectural and cultural memory of the establishment of the Carthusian friars dependent on the Monastery of El Paular.
Its importance lies in having preserved construction materials, systems and techniques, used between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, as well as reflecting the economic organization of the charterhouses, eminently agrarian, based on the cultivation of fields and livestock and, therefore, , destined to the storage of grain, wine, oil, vinegar and different heads of cattle.
The winery, the main building with its cloister, the chapel and the area with stables, winery and annexed buildings make up a unique set in the Community of Madrid where the characteristics of what were this type of agricultural subsidiaries of the Monasteries of the Carthusian Order. This space recalls the complex's ability to supply the Monastery of Paular, sell products for a healthy economy, as well as employ the workers they had to care for their possessions. It also maintains the areas where the rooms for the religious were located, barns, cellars, kitchens, caves, stables, corrals and stables to house the nomadic herds owned by the Order that moved across the Castilian plateau.
For all these reasons, it is a property of enormous interest, to which is added its scenic value within the Historic Site of Talamanca.
Origin and historical evolution
The first news about Talamanca belong to the Muslim period, founded by the emir Muhammad I before the year 860 as a key location at an urban and military level, destined to control and defend the Port of Somosierra due to its strategic enclave. After the conquest of Toledo in 1085, it became part of the Christian territories
During the XNUMXth century it went through a period of economic prosperity, becoming an important commercial enclave, although it would gradually lose importance during the Middle Ages, maintaining a progressive depopulation in the XNUMXth century.
This did not affect the creation of the new agricultural complex carried out by the monks of La Cartuja de El Paular, motivated especially by the fertile conditions of the land of the Jarama plain. The works of said complex must have started in the XNUMXth century, so that in the XNUMXth century they were already finished.
The Carthusian Order, founded in 1084 by San Bruno, was characterized by austerity, simplicity and moderation. Thanks to intense economic activity, the Carthusians began to have an increasing presence in the Lozoya Valley, acquiring numerous lands and properties where they established farms.
This was the case in Talamanca de Jarama, where the monks began to buy properties such as the Molino de la Corredera, orchards, houses with corrals, and warehouses. Some of these properties were the ones that could give rise to La Cartuja de Talamanca, as it was formed by a small group of houses, very possibly located in the southern sector of the current Calle del Viento, where according to some scholars, this group of buildings would be the the seed on which the La Cartuja agricultural complex would be built years later.
There is no documentary evidence of how this property was formed, as well as the date of construction of its first enclosure, although there is evidence that La Cartuja was built in its current location before the XNUMXth century.
In the historical inventory dated June 1, 1655, some of the existing rooms are mentioned, such as the chapel, the granary, the oil tanker or the cellar, as well as the equipment of the chapel with paintings and liturgical ornaments.
In the final years of the century, an ambitious program of works ordered by the vicar Fray Juan de Aguilar began, which concluded in the early years of the 1703th century. The central building of the complex was completed in XNUMX, as stated in the inscription placed over the entrance arch to the large underground cellar.
The Charterhouse
La Cartuja is located within the walls of the walled enclosure of Talamanca. It currently has two entrances, one on Calle del Viento, which is its historical and main entrance, and another access to the enclosure located on Calle San Miguel that probably did not exist originally.
The property is comprised of various buildings, all of them in a poor state of conservation: from defensive remains that probably date from around the XNUMXth century, when it was a Muslim military enclave, through medieval defenses, and the actual installation of the dependent Carthusian friars of the Monastery of El Paular from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.
Although originally much larger, the complex today preserves four standing buildings and remains of other constructions that have completely lost their roofs and only remains of their perimeter walls. The four buildings that are still preserved are:
- The main building, located at the southwestern end.
- Central building, with a quadrangular floor plan and a four-sided roof, which houses the cellar in its basement.
- The chapel.
- The stable building.
To these are added 5 more buildings in the northeast and north, auxiliary constructions with structures that only maintain part of their perimeter in variable wall heights and without any type of coverage.
The constructive characteristics, in general lines, correspond to brick factory buildings, with wooden structures and tile roofs. La Cartuja organizes two large spaces, a wine cellar and warehouses, around an L-shaped courtyard with two floors and a semi-basement. The eastern half is free of buildings, with what would probably be an orchard, at a practically horizontal level. The main access portal was built between 1779 and 1781.
The georadar surveys indicate the existence of archaeological remains in the subsoil of the entire plot: isolated structures such as warehouses or warehouses, as well as two different orientations of the buildings.
The main building develops in the shape of an L around a cloister porticoed that gives access to the different dependencies: kitchen, rooms of the Carthusians and chapel.
La chapel It has mural paintings on the ceiling and walls that represent the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Trinity, Pentecost and the Mystic Lamb. On the sides there is a simulated marble plinth on which Saint Hugo, Saint Telmo and Magdalena, the emblem of the House of Bourbon and the Carthusian coat of arms are represented. On the altar there is a painting of the Immaculate Conception.
In the so-called building of stables, Probably the oldest of the set, differences are observed with the general construction system of most of La Cartuja, using a humbler system, of masonry and with hardly any presence of brick as a material.
After the stable, and although only remains of its façade remain, the oil press and other spaces, partially disappeared today, intended for storage or production, such as the oil press which used a large stone for grinding.
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