Alcalá la Vieja hill
alcalá the old

Alcalá la Vieja deposit in Alcalá de Henares

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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.

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.