

Alcalá la Vieja deposit in Alcalá de Henares
Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of Area of Archaeological Interest
El Alcalá la Vieja site It is one of the four most important Islamic settlements in the Community of Madrid that constitutes a valuable material testimony of the Andalusian culture, along with Calatalifa, Talamanca de Jarama and Madrid.
It is one of the few Andalusian cities located and fossilized in time, taking into account that the presence of Islamic vestiges in the Madrid region is not particularly abundant and, in many cases, as in the case of the capital itself, they are hidden or very transformed by the subsequent evolution of the population.
Alcalá la Vieja has great cultural value for knowing how the Andalusian cities of the plateau were, formed by the citadel, medinas and maqbara. Although the site has a long chronology, dating back to the Bronze Age, and levels from the Iron Age, Roman and Visigothic times are also known, the greatest development is known in the Hispanic-Muslim period, under the name of Qalat abd-al-Salam.
The area, within the protected natural environment known as Parque de los Cerros, has great scenic and historical value, including the Henares River, the Malvecino hill, a tactical protagonist in the Christian conquest of 1118, and the hermitages of Ecce Homo.
Historic context
In the year 711, Islamic troops entered the Iberian Peninsula, quickly spreading through the territory. In the XNUMXth century, the borders were established, in the center and west of the Peninsula, around the Duero Valley. They were organized in networks or plots that received the name of "brands", being the central sector of the peninsula called the Median Brand.
The Islamic footprint in the Community of Madrid is not only seen in the urban and fluvial place names, but also in the remains of fortifications with which the border area was protected, as in the case of Alcalá la Vieja, whose origin has been dated traditionally from the 852th century, attributing it to the emir Muhammad I (886/XNUMX).
This hypothesis started from the reference made to the conquest of hisn al-qal'a in the year 825 and the discovery of a dirham of the same date. However, the detailed study of the sources and the different archaeological campaigns in Alcalá la Vieja suggest that there should not have been a fortress in Emiral times, and that the foundation would have to be delayed until the Umayyad Caliphate, not being able to take its construction before the X century.
Alcalá la Vieja most likely entered the Christian orbit after the conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI, although it must have been lost quickly due to the advance of the Almoravids from North Africa. The place passed into Christian hands after an important siege by the troops of Alfonso XII in 1118.
After the Archbishop of Toledo, Bernardo de Sedirac, conquered the city, and during the rest of the Middle Ages, the old fortress was considerably improved. In fact, a good part of the remains that are preserved (the albarrana tower or the Mudejar church) are already from the middle of the Christian medieval period, from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.
Description of the deposit
The site is made up of three hills, the main one being the citadel fortress, while those located both to the west and to the south are unfortified suburbs. In the southern suburb, the presence of a mausoleum or necropolis. The following elements should be highlighted:
- The citadel It is located on an elevation preceded by a natural moat and the wall is made up of several canvases and towers, nine according to the latest research, which adapt to the topography of the hill itself. The layout has been dated to the second half of the XNUMXth century. Between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries and especially at the end of the XNUMXth century, the greatest transformation of the fortress took place.
- Watchtower. It is the best-preserved structure located to the southeast of the access, associated with these transformation works in the second half of the XNUMXth century, and which made it possible to control the way up until reaching the main gate.
- Access to Alcalá la Vieja. Located to the southwest, it is the most outstanding element of the complex. It was flanked by two rectangular towers from the XNUMXth century with a corridor in which there are two doors with horseshoe arches.
- Underground cistern. Possibly from the Andalusian period, it preserves part of the brick barrel vault roof.
- Necropolis. Located in the southern suburb, where some twenty burials of Islamic rites have been documented.
- Other elements. Storage elements have also been documented, such as silos, excavated in the natural terrain and a church, possibly of Mudejar traces, which housed a cemetery area around its surroundings.