Fuenlabrada

Fuenlabrada is a Spanish city and municipality that forms part of the Community of Madrid. It is located within the metropolitan area of Madrid and is located seventeen kilometers southwest of the capital. Its population is 194,514 inhabitants, which makes it one of the fourth most populous Madrid town and the thirty-second largest in the country.

It is located on a plain in the Central Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula, crossed to the north by the Culebro stream, a tributary of the Manzanares River. It limits to the north with Leganés, to the west with Móstoles and Alcorcón, to the east with Getafe and Pinto and to the south with Humanes de Madrid and Parla.

Founded in 1375 by inhabitants of the villages of Fregacedos and Loranca, who built the settlement around a spring they used to supply themselves with water, the city was for centuries a simple town inhabited by farmers and ranchers. Everything changed after beginning of the 1970s, when the population increased significantly due to the arrival of young families and workers who came from other Spanish regions, as had happened in other towns near Madrid. Although at first it was contemplated As a commuter town, the construction of industrial estates and the provision of public services have reduced its dependence on the capital; since 2006 the municipality is part of the Law of Large Cities of Spain.

The town has endowments such as the church of San Esteban Protomártir, built in the 14th century; a campus of the Rey Juan Carlos University, the Tomás y Valiente cultural center, and a public university hospital. Its notable industrial activity also stands out, with complexes such as the Cobo Calleja industrial estate, considered one of the largest business centers in the entire European Union.

Toponymy

The Relations of Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana (1784) contains a description of the name of the town, which has been assumed by the Fuenlabrada City Council as official. The following text has been taken from the updated edition of the Relaciones topográficas de Felipe II, coordinated by Alfredo Alvar Ezquerra:

"In the first chapter the sayings Peter Montero and John Holgado answered that this people are said to be Fuenlabrada, because near him there is an old source, that this labrada to lime and singing, and it is the opinion that they made it moros, and for this cause is called the people so."

Symbols

Shield

The official coat of arms was updated on May 7, 2009 along with the rest of the municipal symbols, with the approval of the Royal Matritense Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy.

The old version had an open Spanish royal crown and three parts that include the carved fountain that gives rise to the local name, a golden castle in reference to the Kingdom of Castile, and a panoramic view of the town on an agricultural background. This shield is accompanied by a golden support with the inscription "Villa de Fuenlabrada" in capital letters, while in the lower part there is the motto of the city: "Fuenlabrada was already before Spain was won".

Logo with the old shield

The new version dates from 2009 and updates the symbols related to the city: a stylized font based on the original design, a gold castle from the Kingdom of Castile, and two olive branches crossed in sinople to represent the spirit of peace and coexistence, on a plowed field that symbolizes the agricultural past. The emblazonment is as follows:

First of azur a silver fountain; Castile party (from gules a golden castle cleared of azur); second, of gold a pine of azur of five pieces, sprinkle on it two branches of olive oil of siple, crossed at its lower ends. To the Spanish Royal Crown.

Official State Gazette 166 of 10 July 2009

There is a stylized version for corporate communication, in blue and white, which reinterprets the official symbols and incorporates waves of water to represent "a city that expands, progresses and is inclusive at the same time".

Flag

The flag of Fuenlabrada is made up of two horizontal stripes of equal dimensions: a white one at the top that represents peace, and a blue one at the bottom that tries to convey closeness. In the center is the coat of arms of the town: the heraldic one in protocol acts and the stylized one for common use.

Flag.– Rectangular cloth, of proportions 2:3 horizontally cut by half, white top and blue bottom. In the center is located the municipal shield within a white circle.

Official State Gazette 166 of 10 July 2009

History

St. Stephen's church facade Protottartir

The first documented settlements in the area date from the XI century in the towns of Fregacedos and Loranca, two kilometers from the current city. However, there are sites in the Los Granados archaeological zone belonging to previous periods.

According to the Relations of Lorenzana, Fuenlabrada would have been founded in 1375 by the inhabitants who left both villages to create a new settlement around «an old fountain, which is carved with lime y canto", and which they used to supply themselves with water. Today there are no remains of that construction on which the old town and the church of San Esteban Protomártir, mentioned for the first time in 1427, were built.

In the 16th century it was a village incorporated into the district of Madrid, on which it depended on the administrative and jurisdictional level, with a population of just 350 residents who were mostly engaged in agriculture. The development of the town was severely limited by the scarcity of water, since the original source from which they lived ended up running out. The inhabitants who needed running water had to travel four kilometers to go to the Fregacedos spring. All these problems were solved in the XIX century with the development of the canalization and with the installation of two new fountains: the Cuatro Caños fountain (1859) and the Honda Fountain (1870, current Cruz de Luisa).

In 1790, a building for the Fuenlabrada town hall was inaugurated, located in the current Plaza de España, which was rebuilt in 1879 in a classicist style. Although it no longer houses the seat of government, it has been reformulated as a youth center and is one of the few vestiges of historical heritage that remains.

In the middle of the XIX century, the place had a registered population of 2027 inhabitants. The town is described in the eighth volume of the Geographical-statistical-historical dictionary of Spain and its overseas possessions by Pascual Madoz as follows:

FUEN LABRADA: l. con ayunt. dela prov., aud. terr. y c. g. de Madrid (3 leg.), part. jud. de Getafe (1), dióc. of Toledo (10): sit. on flat ground, combat all the winds, and its climate some cold, is quite healthy, not suffering more illnesses than seasonals: it has over 480 large and spacious houses, but built with poor taste and few comforts for its vec; because they have few rooms although large pens; there is a square, house of fasting. In a bad state, which serves the prison pair; primary school of instruction for children, to which they count as 80 that are in charge of a teacher endowed with 8 rs. daily, another for girls who attend 30, whose teacher receives 1, 2 and 4 rs. according to their age; several wells, of whose waters the vec are used. for their uses and that of the cattle, and a igl. Stop. (San Esteban Proto-martir) served by a parish priest, term healer and state patronate, a lieutenant named by the priest, a royally appointed beneficiary and several heritage chaplains. The building is of modern architecture and of quite capacity: on the outskirts of the pobl and the O. is the cemetery in paraje that does not offend public health; 2 small walks with trees and 4 hermits, the Virgin of Belen, to the N.; Saint Gregory also to the N.; the Sto. Christ of Calvary, the E., and Sta. Ana, S. El Term. is stretched 1/2 leg., from N. to S., and 3/4 E. to O., and confine N. Leganes; E. Getafe; S. Parla, and O. Humanes: there is a fountain in it that binds to the people of drinking water; a meadow like 80 fan. of stension, some orchards and the desp. entitled Fragrance. The field, though, something lazy, is good for wheat and other seeds. roads: those who lead to the bordering villages of wheel and in good condition. The mail It's received from the party's lobby. prod.: good wheat, barley, chickpeas, lunches, beans, algarrobas and some vegetables, and keeps herds wool, cattle and mular. ind. and trade: the farm, 10 looms for jars of jars and coasts, and arrhythria that carry wheat, barley and straw. pobl.: 487 neighbors, 2,027 souls. cap. prod.: 15,257,677. imp.: 577,542. contr. according to the general and official calculation of the prov.: 9'65 per 100. municipal budget amount to about 20,000 rs. that are covered with their own prod.

(Madoz, 1847, p. 204)

Old Town Hall, 1879, located in Plaza de España

Infrastructures improved at the end of the XIX century with the inauguration of the railway station in 1876, integrated into the layout between Madrid and Caceres. In addition, a third level highway was opened that connected the municipality with Madrid passing through Leganés. At the beginning of the 20th century the population barely exceeded 2,500 inhabitants, mostly farmers and day laborers.

In 1948 there was an anecdotal event linked to the Law of Succession: Fuenlabrada was the first city that Prince Juan Carlos set foot in when he moved to Spain to complete his education under the tutelage of the Franco dictatorship. The first stop of the heir to the throne was scheduled in Villaverde but it was modified for security reasons. After arriving at the station through the Lusitania Expreso, he called his father Juan de Borbón and was transferred to Cerro de los Ángeles.

The urban development of Fuenlabrada took place at the beginning of the 1970s, as in other municipalities in the south of Madrid, due to the need to reduce urban population concentration. Many of the new inhabitants were young families and workers from the interior of Spain—mostly from Castile, Extremadura, and Andalusia—who could not afford housing in the capital. From there, new neighborhoods, real estate developments, industrial estates and roads were inaugurated to connect it with neighboring municipalities. In this way, the population went from 7,300 inhabitants in 1970 to more than 65,180 residents in 1980, the largest national demographic boom in that period.

The General Urban Planning Plan of 1986 adjusted growth both in the new neighborhoods and in the old town, and served to provide the city with facilities and public services that avoided its dependence on the capital. They inaugurated modern facilities such as the Fernando Martín Sports Center (1991), the Rey Juan Carlos public university (1996), the new town hall (1998), the Fuenlabrada University Hospital (2003) and the Tomás y Valiente art center (2005). On the other hand, Metro de Madrid included the municipality in the layout of line 12 with five stations that began operating in 2003.

In the 2010s, Fuenlabrada became the fourth most populated city in the Community of Madrid, with more than 193,000 residents. Since 2006 it is part of the Law of Large Cities of Spain.

Demographics

Panoramic of Fuenlabrada in which several housing blocks can be seen

Fuenlabrada has a registered population of 193,586 inhabitants according to the 2018 census of the National Institute of Statistics. This makes it the fourth municipality in number of inhabitants in the Community of Madrid, only behind Madrid, Móstoles and Alcalá de Henares. At a national level, it is the thirty-second largest in Spain, ahead of provincial capitals such as San Sebastián, Burgos and Albacete. With an area of 39.21 km², the population density is 4,940.07 inhabitants/km².

The city has experienced tremendous growth related to the economic development of Madrid. At the beginning of the 1970s the population was barely 7,300 inhabitants, unlike other neighboring towns such as Leganés or Getafe where they were already noticing a rise. However, during that period there was a massive arrival of young families and workers from the interior of Spain who could not afford housing in the capital, becoming a commuter town. In the 1981 census there were already registered 77,626 inhabitants, representing a dizzying growth of 959%, and by the end of the century XX the census was 173,000 residents.

In the population pyramid, the percentage of young people stands out: more than 21% of the inhabitants are under twenty years of age, while the elderly group represents 14.32%. However, the vast majority of citizens belong to the group between 16 and 64 years.

The foreign population is 28,106 people, which represents 13% of the census. Most of these neighbors come from Romania (3.25%), Morocco (2.32%), Nigeria (1.09%), the People's Republic of China (0.89%) and Colombia (0.81%).

Graphic of Demographic Evolution of Fuenlabrada between 1842 and 2017

Rule population (1842-1897, except 1857 and 1860, which is a de facto population) according to population censuses of the nineteenth century.Population of Law (1900-1991) or resident population (2001) according to population censuses of the INE. Population according to the municipal standards of 2011 and 2017 of the INE.

Administration and politics

Municipal government

Headquarters of the town hall of Fuenlabrada in the Plaza de la Constitución

The city of Fuenlabrada is governed by the Fuenlabrada City Council, whose representatives are elected in municipal elections every four years by universal suffrage. It is the body with the most powers in the city, since it regulates the daily life of citizens and powers such as transport, urban planning and municipal services, among others. Since 2018 the mayor of Fuenlabrada is the socialist Javier Ayala Ortega.

The local government bodies are the Municipal Plenary —made up of 27 councilors—, the Work Commissions, and the Local Government Board chaired by the mayor. The plenary sessions are held in the Fuenlabrada town hall building, located in the Plaza de la Constitución. Since its inclusion in the Law of Large Cities, Fuenlabrada is divided into 14 neighborhoods, administratively grouped into six District Boards that channel the citizen participation of residents.

Javier Ayala Ortega, current mayor of Fuenlabrada since 2018

Above the town hall is the Government of the Community of Madrid, in charge of its corresponding powers transferred by the State. Since Madrid is a single-province autonomous community, there is no council. The highest body is the General State Administration, coordinated through the Government delegation, which deals with matters such as security, Justice and Renfe trains.

Since the recovery of democracy, Fuenlabrada has been characterized as one of the voting centers for left-wing parties in the Community of Madrid, forming the so-called "red belt", and has always had mayors from the Socialist Party of Madrid.

The last municipal elections were held on May 26, 2019, which the Spanish Socialist Workers Party won by an absolute majority, obtaining 16 councilors.

Territorial organization

Fuenlabrada is administratively divided into six districts:

1. Loranca, Nuevo Versailles, Parque Miraflores — located in the northwest margin, in some lands previously occupied by the old settlements of Loranca and Fregacedos, which have been reurbanized with the expansion of the city.
2. Vivero, Hospital de Fuenlabrada, University — expansion of the city to the southeast, houses the Hospital de Fuenlabrada, the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and the Estadio Fernando Torres.
3. El Naranjo, La Serna — urban extension to the north of the city, connected through the station of La Serna and the avenue of Europe.
4. Cerro, El Molino — urban center west of the city, which is separated from the center via the train. There you will find the station of Fuenlabrada Central, the town hall and the fountain of the steps.
5. The Arroyo, La Fuente, considered the historic centre of the city, brings together all the historic buildings of the old town and advances southwards with the park of Olivar and the cemetery.
6. La Avanzada, La Cueva — urban extension to the northeast of the city. It welcomes the Thomas and Valiente Art Center.

The urban planning of Fuenlabrada has been linked to urban development since the 1970s, which has tried to be corrected through the approval of General Urban Planning Plans and the provision of public facilities. The railway line divides the municipality into two halves because it was built at a lower elevation than the surrounding ground, something notable as construction expanded to the west. Although different projects have been proposed to solve it, such as partial burying and raising the height of the Station square, there is still no viable plan that allows the entire track to be buried.

Geography

Green area in the park of Peace

The population is located in the central area of the Iberian Peninsula, 13 km southwest of Cerro de los Ángeles, the geographical center of the Peninsula. It is located 664 m above sea level, a height slightly higher than that of the capital. The coordinates of the city are 40°17′N 3°47′W / 40.283, -3.783.

The geographic and climatic context of Fuenlabrada is that of the South Subplateau, within the Central Plateau. The city is located a few^{[citation required]} kilometers from the Sierra de Guadarrama and hydrographically it is located in the Tagus basin.

Northwest: Móstoles and Alcorcón	North: Alcorcon and Leganés	Northeast: Leganes and Getafe
West: Móstoles		This: Getafe
Southwest: Moraleja de Enmedio	South: Humans of Madrid	Sureste: Parla and Pinto

Hydrography

The Culebro creek at its passage through Fuenlabrada

The city is surrounded by shallow streams. To the north, the most important are the Barranco del Canto Echado lagoon and the Culebro stream (La Recomba), the most important tributary of the Manzanares river in its lower course; as it passes through the east it runs through a place known as La Vega, where there were numerous orchards until the 1970s.

To the west, near Loranca, are the Fregacedos stream and the Solana stream; Part of the current neighborhood is surrounded by the Lago de Loranca park, an artificial park with more than 8,000 hectares of meadows and wetlands.

Climate

The local climate is continental Mediterranean, and is characterized by a greater annual thermal amplitude and less rainfall due to its altitude and distance from the sea. Like other Madrid cities, it is also conditioned by urban conditions that generate a "heat island": winters are moderately cold, while summers are very hot and with little rainfall.

Average climate parameters of Fuenlabrada, Madrid
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	10.5	12.7	16.8	18.6	23.0	29.3	33.2	32.5	27.5	20.6	14.5	10.7	20.8
Average temperature (°C)	5.9	7.5	10.8	12.7	16.8	22.4	25.9	25.4	21.1	15.3	9.8	6.5	15.0
Temp. medium (°C)	1.2	2.4	4.9	6.9	10.5	15.6	18.5	18.2	14.6	9.9	5.0	2.4	9.2
Days of rain (≥ 1 mm)	5.5	5.1	4.1	6.5	6.3	2.9	1.4	1.7	2.9	6.6	6.1	6.6	55.6
Days of snowfall (≥ 1 mm)	1.0	1.1	0.3	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	3.2
Hours of sun	150	172	222	237	279	326	368	339	256	202	152	124	2850
Relative humidity (%)	76	68	58	56	52	42	35	38	48	64	73	79	57
Source: http://www.aemet.es 2016

Economy

Plaza de la Estación Shopping Centre, opened in 2004

In 2017 Fuenlabrada had an average gross income of 22,691 euros per year. Although for centuries it has been an eminently agricultural town, since the 1970s Its economy is centered on industry and the service sector. Based on the contracting data for industrial buildings in the Community of Madrid, Fuenlabrada represents 25% of the regional industrial activity.

Among the ten industrial parks that surround the city, the Cobo Calleja industrial estate stands out, with an extension of 162 hectares and more than 1,500 companies located. A large part of its activity is explained by the opening of wholesale product import businesses manufactured in China, which makes it the largest Chinese business complex in the entire European Union. It is connected to the municipality through the Toledo highway and the M-506. It also has the Sonsoles industrial estate, close to Cobo Calleja; and the El Palomo industrial estate to the east of the city.

The current weight of agriculture is very low, but the Fuenlabrada city council has reserved land in its municipal area to promote the continuity of the first sector in the south of Madrid. The "Parque Agrario de Fuenlabrada" project covers more than 800 hectares of irrigated and rainfed plots in the Fregacedos area, and its purpose is to promote local agriculture.

Services

Education

Exterior of the campus of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Formal education

The public educational offer in Fuenlabrada consists of 33 nurseries (eleven of them public), 37 public primary schools, two special education centers, a public adult center and 14 secondary education institutes.

To this must be added an additional private offer made up of 11 subsidized centers and a paying school.

Higher education

The city is home to a campus of the Rey Juan Carlos University, the second public university in the Community of Madrid in number of students enrolled. Within this center are the Faculty of Communication Sciences, the Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSIT), the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, and the "Alicia Alonso" University Institute of Dance. It also has a library, auditorium, laboratory, sports facilities and residence for students.

Since 1992, Fuenlabrada has had a classroom at the National Distance Education University (UNED), located today in the Jules Verne Municipal Center for Educational Resources.

The complementary offer of the municipality includes an Official Language School with courses in English, French, German and Chinese; several first and second cycle vocational training centers; the Paulo Freire Adult Education Center, and different municipal courses and workshops attached to popular education.

Health

Hospital de Fuenlabrada

The University Hospital of Fuenlabrada has been the reference public health center for Fuenlabrada, Humanes de Madrid and Moraleja de Enmedio since its inauguration in 2004. The health offer covers more than 35 specialties, although in some it depends on other centers such as the Hospital 12 de Octubre or Hospital de Getafe. It has a staff made up of more than 1,300 workers, and has 406 installed beds, 88 consultation rooms, eleven operating rooms and three delivery rooms.

Within the structure of the Fuenlabrada Hospital there is a center for medical specialties, the CEP El Arroyo. It has a primary care emergency service and a mental health center.

Transportation

The town is separated from Madrid by about 17 km in a straight line and 22.5 km by road, and borders to the north with the other large municipalities of the southern belt: Móstoles, Alcorcón, Leganés and Getafe. The municipality benefited from the construction of the M-50 ring road, which has helped alleviate part of the traffic to the capital.

Fuenlabrada forms part of zone B2 in the scale for the transport pass of the Madrid Regional Transport Consortium. It is also the only city in the Community of Madrid that has its own Municipal Transport Company.

Road network

The main national highways are the following:

• A-42: motorway from Toledo, runs through the east of the city at the height of the industrial polygon Cobo Calleja and through it pass numerous intercity bus lines. Departures 16 and 17.
• M-50: Madrid's ring road. It runs north of the city and marks the municipal limit with Leganés. Departures 55 and 59.
• R-5: toll road around the west of the city, from Carabanchel to Navalcarnero. Exit 9 (connect with M-50) and 11 (connect with M-506).

The following highways belong to the main network of the Community of Madrid:

• M-405: begins in Fuenlabrada to unite it with the urban centers of Humanes and Griñón.
• M-407: begins in Arroyo Culebro, crosses the northwest of Fuenlabrada and then passes through Moraleja de Enmedio and Griñón.
• M-409: Cross the south of Leganés and the City of the Motorway to reach the north of Fuenlabrada in the neighborhood of La Avanzada.
• M-413: part from the south of Fuenlabrada in its southern part, crosses the municipalities of Moraleja de Enmedio and Arroyomolinos, and ends in the Intu Xanadú shopping center.
• M-419: runs from the industrial polygon Cobo Calleja to the population of Cubas de la Sagra.
• M-506: main road that surrounds the entire city on the south side, from Loranca to the Miraflores Park district, and connects it with Móstoles to the west and Pinto to the east. It marks the municipal limit with Humanes de Madrid.

Railway

Detail of Fuenlabrada station. At the bottom to the left appears the town hall building

The Fuenlabrada railway station was inaugurated on June 20, 1876, being used by the now extinct Madrid to Cáceres and Portugal Railway Company on the section from Madrid to Torrijos. Years later it would form part of the Madrid-Lisbon railway line, and for a time it was a stop for the now extinct Lusitania Expreso. Today it connects the city with Cercanías Madrid (line C-5), Media Distancia train (Renfe) and Madrid Metro (line 12), with a bus stop at the exit.

Train tracks run through the center of the city. Although work has been done to reduce its impact on the urban layout, with the construction of level crossings, they have not been able to be completely buried.

With regard to Cercanías Madrid, the railway network that connects Madrid with its metropolitan area, has two stations on the C-5 line: Fuenlabrada (in the center of the city) and La Serna (to the north in the homonymous neighborhood). It connects to the north with the Atocha station and to the south with the Humanes station, although some of the trains that run on this line end their journey and reverse their march in Fuenlabrada.

Renfe Media Distance

Madrid commuter trains

Line	Tour	Stations
	The Soto - Fuenlabrada / Humanes	La Serna, Fuenlabrada

Subway

Fuenlabrada has been part of the Madrid Metro network since April 11, 2003, with five stations on line 12 (Metrosur):

• State Park: Exit to Havana Street, Venezuela Street and State Avenue.
• Central Fuenlabrada: west exit to the promenade of Rome and east exit to the Paseo de la Estación. Correspondence with line C-5 of Renfe Closes.
• Parque Europa: exits to calle France and street of the Netherlands.
• Hospital de Fuenlabrada: Exit to the Molino road, serves both the Hospital de Fuenlabrada and the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.
• Loranca: exits to Avenida Madres de Mayo and Calle de la Alegría.

Buses

Bus of the Municipal Transport Company of Fuenlabrada

There is an urban bus network managed, like the rest of the public transport network, by the Madrid Transport Consortium and the Fuenlabrada Municipal Transport Company (EMTF). The southern city is, together with the capital, the only one in the entire Community of Madrid that has had its own company since it was founded on July 5, 1983.

The EMTF operates nine lines throughout the municipality and maintains a fleet of 30 buses, distinguishable from those used on interurban lines because they are red. Both the garages and the central offices of the EMTF are located on Eduardo Torroja street, within the El Palomo industrial estate. At the interurban level, the concessionaire companies Martín S.A., Avanza Interurbanos, and Arriva Madrid operate.

Urban lines

Interurban lines

Culture

Architecture

Source of the steps

Today there are few vestiges of Fuenlabrada before the population growth of the 1970s, and even the source that gave rise to the name of the town has ended up disappearing. The Los Granados archaeological zone, located near the depopulated areas, It has specific protection as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) in process.

In the old town is the church of San Esteban Protomártir, the oldest in the city, which has been rebuilt on different occasions. Although its exact origin is unknown, the temple was cited for the first time in a 1427 manuscript of the visitations of the clergyman Martín Sánchez to the churches of the Arciprestazgo in Madrid. Inside, the altarpiece of the main altar stands out, dated 1707 and attributed to José de Churriguera; In the central part of the altarpiece there is a canvas attributed to the painter Claudio Coello.

The other most important historical building is the old town hall, built in 1790. After being renovated several times, the local government moved into a new building in 1998 and the old one has been converted into a municipal youth center.

The fountains have been the symbol of the city since its foundation. Although the original one that was located on Calle de la Fuente no longer exists, the two built from the canalization in the 18th century can be seen XIX: the Cuatro Caños font dates from 1859 and is the oldest surviving font, while the Cruz font de Luisa is from 1874 and replaced a previous one. Both took their water from the Fregacedos spring, which has been rebuilt from scratch with a new design. On the other hand, in 1987 the Fuente de las Escaleras was inaugurated, designed by the Mexican Fernando González Gortázar with three different elements and considered a symbol of local transformation.

The city has several parks within the urban layout, such as Parque de los Estados, Bulevar Primero de Mayo, Parque de la Paz and Parque del Lago Loranca.

Cultural facilities

Museums

Exterior of the Centro Cultural Tomás y Valiente

The largest facility in the city is the Tomás y Valiente Cultural Center, inaugurated on April 5, 2005 and named after Judge Francisco Tomás y Valiente. The three-story, 19,000 square meter enclosure houses the Tomás y Valiente Art Center (CEART), dedicated exclusively to contemporary art; a theatre, the Dionisio Aguado Municipal School of Music, a library and the Delegation of Culture.

The CEART has three rooms that are specialized in temporary exhibitions of contemporary art, mostly from other museums but also from local collectives and artists. This center maintains collaboration agreements with the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía and the La Caixa Foundation, among other institutions. In addition, the exteriors of the building reserve temporary exhibitions of urban artists.

Libraries

The network of municipal libraries in Fuenlabrada has seven service points, one for each neighborhood in the city, of which the largest is located in the Tomás y Valiente Cultural Center. The public libraries of Fuenlabrada depend on the city council and they are not part of the catalog of the Network of Public Libraries of the Community of Madrid, so they have their own collection.

Since 1987, Fuenlabrada has developed a program of Literary Cafés where authors come to the municipality to talk about their works, and in which Ana María Matute, Eduardo Mendoza, Almudena Grandes and Soledad Puértolas have participated, among other writers. cultural programs such as reading clubs, literary workshops and a Book Fair.

On the other hand, the Rey Juan Carlos University has its own library in the facilities of the Fuenlabrada campus.

Theatres

Municipal Civic Center La Serna

Fuenlabrada has two halls attached to the Madrid Community Theater Network: the theater-auditorium of the Tomás y Valiente Cultural Center (810 seats) and the Josep Carreras Municipal Theater (500 seats). Other facilities are the Sala Municipal Núria Espert in the Loranca neighborhood and the Municipal Civic Center in the La Serna neighborhood

Local festivals

The biggest patronal celebration is the festivity dedicated to the Cristo de la Misericordia, patron saint of the city. The festivities last a week, with September 14 recognized as a local holiday in the work calendar, and to the activities scheduled by the town hall are added those carried out by the clubs and brotherhoods. The next most important is the day of San Esteban every 26 December, in honor of the patron saint of the church of San Esteban Protomártir as the oldest temple in the municipality.

Every 9th of March, the pilgrimage for the Day of Santa Juana is celebrated, popularly known as “Día de la Tortilla”, in which the people of Fuenlabrán go to the Valdeserrano park to spend the day. This tradition dates back to the time when the residents made a pilgrimage to Cubas de la Sagra to venerate Juana Vázquez, nicknamed "the Saint Juana" for the supposedly miraculous cures that she practised. Although it is not considered a local holiday, it is recognized by the city council as a popular festivity that attracts many residents of the south of Madrid.

It is also worth mentioning the festivities in other neighborhoods, such as the Cristo de la Salud in the old town (first week of May); the Cristo de las Lluvias in the Belén neighborhood (last week of May), and the patron saint María Auxiliadora in the Naranjo neighborhood (first week of June).

Sports

Partido del Baloncesto Fuenlabrada en el polideportivo Fernando Martín

The city is known nationally for basketball and has a team in the ACB League, Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, which debuted in the highest category in 1996 and plays its matches at the Fernando Martín Sports Center. This venue also hosted to Partizan of Belgrade in the 1991-92 season of the European League, conquered outside their country because of the Yugoslav wars.

Soccer is also a very popular sport and its highest representative is the Fuenlabrada Football Club, which competes in the Second Division of Spain. It owes its name to the most famous soccer player in the town, former striker and world champion Fernando Torres. This stadium replaced the old facility, Campo de La Aldehuela, which has been converted into a sports complex with three artificial turf soccer fields.

Fuenlabrada has a municipal pavilion, two soccer fields, six sports centers and a swimming pool complex, not to mention the facilities of the Rey Juan Carlos University and the different private centers. In recent years, the city council has promoted a program of municipal leagues in various disciplines.

In 2019 the city was designated "European Capital of Sport" by the Association of European Capitals and Cities of Sport.

Twinned cities

Fuenlabrada is twinned with the following cities:

• San Juan de Río Coco (Nicaragua, 1988)
• Joal-Fadiouth (Senegal, 1999)

Notable people