page_title: Colmenar de Oreja
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Colmenar de Oreja / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Español: Plaza Mayor de Colmenar de Oreja
context_page_description: Colmenar de Oreja is a town and municipality of the Las Vegas comarca, in the Community of Madrid, Spain. It was subject to a seven-month siege in 1139.
context_section_description: Plaza Mayor (Main Square). The construction began in 1676, and the Plaza Mayor became one of the magnificent examples of typical Castilian arcaded squares when it was completed in 1794. The Town Hall and the Pósito Hall lay within the square. Its southern side faces a majestic architectural complex made up of the Zacatín Gardens, the mouth of the stone tunnel of the same name (Arco del Zacatín), which crosses under the square from one side to the other joining the two sides of the valley, and the watering holes. It has been the setting for many films and television series. During the Fiestas Populares (Popular Festivals) in both May and September, a portable wooden bullfighting ruedo is set up, to host traditional bullfighting festivals.
  Teatro Municipal Diéguez (City Theatre). This theatre is built on the site of the former Charity Hospital. In the 19th century it was called the Corral de Comedias and later Teatro de la Caridad. Today it is named after Antonio Diéguez Cruz, first actor within Teatro de la Comedia (Madrid), born in Colmenar in 1904.
  Ulpiano Checa Museum. It hosts the most extensive collection of the work of Ulpiano Checa (1860-1916), mostly historical painting from the end of the 19th century, orientalist painting and genre work. The building, which has been restored and extended, has its access through a small garden, where, in addition to the bust of the painter, there is a monument to the characteristic elements of the city: the limestone and the big terracotta jar (tinaja).
  
   
  Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor. Built by the Order of Santiago, in the second third of the 13th century, it was extended during the second half of the 16th century. In 2008, the paintings were restored and the floor was changed. In addition, since 2009 it has an organ built by the German organist Gerhard Grenzing, donated in its entirety by the neighboring María Pérez García, who wanted to contribute in this way to the heritage of Colmenar de Oreja.
  Ermita del Cristo del Humilladero. The Santísimo Cristo del Humilladero (Colmenar de Oreja Patron Saint) hermitage is considered the third most important monument in the city. The chapel groups together different constructions from different periods; a chapel from the 16th century, with a latin cross form plant and a tiny dome over the transept, to which later they added a dressing room on the back, a sacristy on the left side, and some rooms for the chaplain on the right side in baroque style, work of Bartolomé Valtierra.
  Convento de la Encarnación del Divino Verbo. It belongs to the Order of Augustinian Recollect Nuns and is known in Colmenar de Oreja as the Convento de las Monjas (Convent of the Nuns). It has an area of more than 7000 square meters and is composed of three bodies and an orchard. Built in the middle of the 17th century, it was founded in 1636 by Diego de Cárdenas and Catalina Ponce de León.
caption: Plaza mayor
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