Alpedrete

Alpedrete is a municipality in the northwest of the Spanish autonomous community of Madrid. The place is known for its quarries where granite is, among other important monuments around degraded. Meanwhile, the community is part of the main recreational area for the inhabitants of Madrid (Sierra de Guadarrama ).

Geography

The community is located 47 km away from Madrid in the Sierra de Guadarrama on an average height of 919 meters and covers an area of 12.64 square kilometers.

Quarries

Quarries characterize the surroundings of Alpedrete. The granite mined there was used among other things for the lying in the neighboring municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial monastery monuments of the palace of the Spanish kings Escorial and Franco Warrior Monument Valley of the Fallen ( " Valley of the Fallen "). Also, many of the usual in Madrid, granite structures derived from these quarries, such as parts of the Puerta de Alcalá.

History

The first traces of settlement on the territory of the municipality date back to the Neolithic period and are 4000 years old, which is documented in a number of archaeological finds ( pottery, stone tools and megaliths ). From the Roman period, however, only a few remnants of walls have been preserved, even if the name of the community, some derived from the Latin Petrum Ad (The rock). Such assertions are hard to prove because generally only a few written sources are received on the history Alpedretes.

Only the Islamic expansion in the early Middle Ages from the south coast of brought a fixed settlement. In the fertile foothills of the Guadarrama mountains, the Arabs founded the place which they called because of the rich rock deposits around El pedrete ( cf. Spanish piedra - rock).

In the High Middle Ages, the town was plaything of a prolonged conflict of interest between Madrid and Segovia because of its extensive pastures. Only under Alfonso X, the Wise came Alpedrete 1268 final under Castilian supremacy and was thereby added to the homogeneous Krongut of Real de Manzanares. The Assumption parish church, dedicated testifies to the former strategic importance of the place: She was in the 13th century, typical of the area in medieval garb of a fortified church with loopholes and battlements. In the 16th century it was under the patronage of the noble family of Mendoza, which were fiefs of the borrower Real de Manzanares since the 14th century, rich and exceptionally equipped in the interior, which speaks for the lasting significance of the place for his men. The first census in 1591 Alpedrete showed that there lived 36 families, all of which - except for the priests - the common people belonged ( pecheros ).

It was only on April 26, 1840 attained the place the official independence from the city of Collado Villalba, which was celebrated in a ceremony. The buildings grew long irregular and hardly planned; only since the second half of the 20th century, it came with the advent of mass tourism to major development. Here the first summer visitors settled in the area of Madrid, at all, which led to the construction of many weekend homes and more and more service companies.

Policy

The political orientation of the mayor moved to the end of Francoism and over again. Had the first eight years of Transición nor the Workers' Party ( PSOE), the majority in the council, changed the power for the next twelve years on Miguel Ángel Alonso Montalvo, the first CDS, and then the People's Party ( PP) belonged. After 1999-2003, the PSOE ruled in turn, provides since 2003 the PP with María Casado Mayor. Under her leadership, several large construction projects and infrastructure projects have been carried out, which has led in recent years to increased opposition parties from different directions and to a criminal complaint for abuse of office.

Climate

Alpedrete has a continental climate with relatively cool summers and winters with occasional snowfall, which is enhanced by its proximity to the mountains. The mean annual temperature is between 8 and 12 degrees Celsius, the average minimum temperature in the coldest month -3 to 0 degrees Celsius.

Education

In Alpedrete there are seven day care centers ( public, private six ), four primary schools and one secondary school.

People

• Jose Ramon Zaragoza (1874-1949), Asturian painter, died in Alpedrete.
• Juan José Armas Marcelo ( born 1946 ), Spanish writer and journalist, living in Alpedrete.