Algete

Algete is a Spanish municipality and town in the Community of Madrid, located 30 kilometers northeast of the capital.

Toponymy

The name of Algete derives from the Arabic al-sat 'the shore, the shoreline'.

Geography

It is located just 20 km northeast of the urban developments of Sanchinarro and Las Tablas de Madrid. It has an area of 38 km². The western area includes a plain through which the Jarama River flows. Algete, as the main population center is located between hills. Continuing east of Algete and going up some small hills, we come across an area known as Llano del Campo. The altitude of the municipal term varies between 600 and 780 m s. no. m. It has average winter temperatures lower than those of the Madrid capital.

Inhabited areas can be distinguished into two categories: residential developments and historic center:

In the residential areas they are Santo Domingo (next to the A-1 motorway), Prado Norte (on the Fuente el Saz road) and Ciudad Jardín Valderrey (next to the historic center).

The historic center is divided into different neighborhoods, such as Palomares, Retamar (or Nuevo Algete), El Cigarral, El Tesoro (or Montesoro), Las Pryconsas I and II, Los Pazos, Castillo and Las Letras (or Writers).

In addition, there are isolated nuclei such as the Dehesa Nueva.

There are also several industrial estates such as Rio de Janeiro, Los Nogales, Los Malatones or La Garza.

The surroundings of Algete are made up mostly of cultivated fields, eucalyptus forests and scrubland. It limits with the municipalities of Fuente el Saz de Jarama, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Valdeolmos-Alalpardo, Cobeña, Daganzo de Arriba, El Molar, San Agustín del Guadalix and Colmenar Viejo.

Environment

Algete is surrounded in a large part of its municipal territory by the protected area Z.E.P.A: Cerealista de la cuenca del río Jarama

Its municipal area pointing to the north and using the Fuente El Saz road as a border, to the southeast using the Cobeña road as a border, are part of a natural polygon of high ecological value with endangered species. The European Union has granted it the status of ZEPA (special area for the protection of birds, under European regulations) where birds such as the bustard, the kestrel, the Montagu's harrier coexist... as well as partridges, rabbits, hares, moles, hedgehogs, etc.

History

There is no clear record of the beginning of the population of the municipality. There are remains of human settlements in the Iron Age, belonging to the Beaker culture found in the Jarama plain. Remains of Roman villas and Visigoth settlements have also been found.

It is known that it was already inhabited in Arab times due to the existence of qanat or underground waterways. Its name may come from this time, derived from Al-Satt ^{[citation needed]}, which means the riverbank (by the Jarama river). Another theory advocates an Iberian provenance.

The first historical document dates from the year 720, Tariq ibn Ziyad heads north, leaving a company on a hill watching the road and the river ^{[citation needed]}. This company, called Al-Satt, would probably be limited to the Kingdom of Toledo.

In 1081, Alfonso VI of León began the reconquest of the Jarama basin, expelling the Muslims and repopulating the area with Christians from the South.

In the 15th century the intensity of circulation in this area decreased, so a large number of Jewish families fled to maintain your business.

In the XVI century Algete achieved the title of town. In the middle of the century the church was rebuilt, possibly on top of an earlier one of Romanesque origin. In 1579, Gregory XIII disaffected Algete from the Archbishopric of Toledo and transferred it to the Crown. Thus, Felipe II sells it for twenty thousand ducats to García Hurtado de Mendoza, Marqués de Cañete and Viceroy of Peru.

In the 18th century they came from stately homes. Several documents from this period testify to several visits by King Carlos III to the "Villa de Argete".

In 1728, Felipe V erected the Duchy of Algete with Greatness of Spain in favor of Cristóbal de Moscoso y Montemayor. Cadastral data from this period speak of a population of "290 neighbors living in 282 houses", increasing the number of inhabitants to 1,263 in just a few years.

Already in the XIX century, Alfonso XII visited the municipality in 1883, and in 1891 the first municipal schools were built.

In the XX century, when the Civil War began, Algete remained on the Republican side where the population suffered severe repression, the republicans burned the religious images and destroyed the organ of the church that was used as a quartermaster center for the republican militias, setting up a small airfield in Soto del Duque. It was precisely from this aerodrome that Colonel Segismundo Casado left for Valencia, leaving Madrid handed over to General Franco, a fact that allowed the rebel troops to take control of the capital and the town itself.

In the 1960s, developmentalism gradually arrived in the municipality: the first industrial zones were born, water was channeled, roads were widened, and public lighting was reformed. In the seventies the Town Hall was built; In the 1980s the bullring was built and the sports center was developed on land ceded by the Duke of Alburquerque, and in the 1990s the new Health Center and some educational centers were built. Like many cities around Madrid, it experienced excessive growth during the eighties and nineties due to emigration from rural areas.

Demographics

Figure of Algete's demographic evolution between 1842 and 2022

Rule population (1842-1991, except 1857 and 1860 which is a de facto population) or resident population (2001-2021) according to the Population Censuses since 1842.Population according to the municipal register of 2022 of the INE.

Communications

Road

The main access road is the A-1, although it also has the M-50 ring road.

Bus

The town has a wide network of intercity buses that connect it with Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Plaza de Castilla y Barajas), Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes and many other municipalities in the north of Madrid:

Line 197 runs two school services from Monday to Friday that pass through the Algete institutes, specifically those at 8:00 a.m. from Talamanca del Jarama and 2:00 p.m. from the Plaza de Castilla interchange.

Taxi

Algete's taxis belong to the Madrid Taxi Joint Service Area, so vehicles with a Algete taxi license have a diagonal red stripe from front to back on the front doors and the shield of the Villa de Madrid, with the Bear and the Strawberry Tree and the word "Madrid".

Politics

Consistorial House

The Popular Party governed the town since the restoration of democracy. Between 1995 and 1999, Carlos Torquemada Vidal was mayor. In these years the PP received much criticism for its lack of action and inactivity. He won the elections again that year, but without an absolute majority, for which he was replaced by a coalition between the PSOE and Izquierda Unida (Spain), and Jesús Herrera Fernández was appointed mayor. After the 2007 elections there was a change in the City Council, being Inmaculada Juárez of the PP the mayoress. In the 2011 elections, the PP revalidated the absolute majority, repeating Juárez as mayor, but before the end of the legislature, she resigned and was succeeded by Cesar de la Puebla. In the 2015 elections, the PP obtained 9 councillors. The PSOE got 4 councilors, Vecinos por Algete (VxA) another 4 councilors, Ciudadanos (Cs) got 2 councilors, like Izquierda Unida, which also got 2 councilors. In the last municipal elections of 2019, the PP lost the majority, obtaining 5 PSOE councillors, 4 PP, 3 Ciudadanos, 3 Vecinos por Algete, 2 Unión Santo Domingo (USD), 2 UCIN and 2 Vox, forming a coalition government between PSOE, Neighbors for Algete, USD and NICU.

Education

In Algete there are 6 nursery schools (2 public and 4 private), 7 public schools for infant and primary education and 2 secondary education institutes.

Historical heritage

Church of Our Lady of Assumption

Library

• Church of the Assumption of Our Lady

Parties

The patronal festival is on September 14 in honor of the Santísimo Cristo de la Esperanza, but it is celebrated on the second Friday of September, making the festivities begin the previous Thursday and end the following Monday.

The second patronal festival is celebrated on the last Sunday of May. It is dedicated to the Virgen de las Flores and her Brotherhood ( Corte de María ), which is made up exclusively of women. At the end of the procession a lamb is raffled. In recent years, this date has been used for the election of the queen and ladies of the September Festivities.

Another deeply rooted festival is San Roque (August 16). Ordinances have existed since the late 17th century century. His Brotherhood preserves a banner from the end of the 19th century and on the day of the saint distributes, at the end of the procession (to the sound of the dulzainas), what is known as La Caridad , that is, pieces of bread and cheese. There are theories that establish their patronage over the Villa at some point in its history, or at least the ownership of the Parish Church. With the last restoration of the building, a niche with some frescoes was discovered on the side wall, whose image recalls the holy pilgrim with his inseparable dog. It had a hermitage at the exit of the town in the direction of Alalpardo (this site is still called the San Roque Bridge), close to the Fuente de las Gotas. Other than this, he is the only "local" saint in the world. that gives his name to a street in the municipality (specifically to DOS).

It is also celebrated on the day of San Antón (January 17), the Brotherhood of San Antón walks the streets of the town in the morning waking up the neighbors with a cheerful parade, to the sound of a drum that has been preserved since the Wars Carlists.

On San Isidro Day (May 15), farmers lead the procession to the grain fields surrounding Algete, in order to bless them before the harvest.

Although more current, another very popular festival is that of Santa Cecilia (November 22). On the Sunday closest to this day, the three local groups that are dedicated to the noble art of Music (Plectrum Orchestra, Choir and Music Band) celebrate together a Mass and a Procession. They have previously offered a Concert (together or separately) in his honor.

The celebration of Holy Week is gaining special relevance. With some nuances, and some common sense, it could be further improved. All the images that are venerated are after the year 1939. There are two Brotherhoods: Cristo de la Esperanza and Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Soledad). The "steps" They are: JESÚS EN LA DORRIQUITA, JESÚS NAZARENO (with the cross on his shoulder), CRISTO DE LA ESPERANZA (crucified), VIRGEN DE LAS ANGUITAS ("piedad"), VIRGIN DE LA SOLEDAD and CHRIST IN THE TOMB. In the Good Friday procession, a vow of silence is made, which is only broken for the prayer of the Via Crucis.

According to testimonies of our elders, handed down from generation to generation, many years ago, in the place where the cemetery is located, an image of the Virgin Mary with the Child appeared in a broom and they erected a hermitage dedicated to her, under the invocation of Valderrabé. The hermitage was large, it had an altarpiece with the images of the Virgin, Saint Joseph and the Guardian Angel and an Altar, under which there was a green broom, in which, according to tradition, the image had appeared. In the middle of the XIX century, the cemetery that was next to the church, in the center of town, was removed and moved to around the hermitage of Valderrabé, producing burials inside and outside it. With the events of the war, in the thirties of our century, the hermitage was left in ruins and the image of the Virgin disappeared. Until those dates, every year a solemn mass was celebrated around the ninth of November. In the fifties a new similar image was made and the hermitage was rebuilt. In these works the incorrupt body of Father Jerónimo appeared. In 1977, with the expansion of the cemetery, the hermitage was demolished and a small chapel was built at the end of it, to which the remains of Father Jerónimo and the image of the Virgin of Valderrabé were moved, which is where they are venerated in the present. This invocation, so old and traditional of the Virgin, who was somewhat dormant and almost only linked to the cemetery, has tried to recover more widely for everyone in the nineties, transferring the image, some years, to the Church and honoring it again, in a special way, around November 9.

Featured Characters