Illescas

It dates from the end of the 12th century and early 13th c. . It is a unique building because it is one of the few remaining from the Muslim-Christian transition, together with the church of Santiago del Arrabal in Toledo. It is a work of Romanesque-Mudejar style in which different architectural and decorative styles are beautifully integrated and harmonised, and in which the various phases of Ogival architecture and the Mudejar style, so deeply rooted in the lands of Toledo, are perfectly represented. The original construction consisted of a rectangular basilica church with three naves topped by semicircular apses, the central apse being transformed into a square apse in the 16th century . Only the head and the compartments of the first sections of this old layout have survived. The appearance of the church today is due, almost entirely, to the great remodelling it underwent in the last quarter of the 15th century. and throughout the 16th century . The ten vaults at the back are Gothic in style, all of them ribbed with pointed arches and ribs interlacing in keystones. The side chapels of the north wall and the sacristy date from the same period. The square bell tower is built in masonry and brick. It consists of six sections with interlaced pointed and lobed horseshoe arches.

This beautiful and important monument is composed of two parts perfectly differentiated in time, structure and destiny. On the one hand, the hospital and on the other, the sanctuary. In the hospital, charity for the sick and needy is practised; in the sanctuary, the Mother of Charity is worshipped. The hospital itself was erected by Cisneros in 1500. This superb building is in the Renaissance style, with a Latin cross plan, oriented southwest to northeast, and in a dominant position because it is built on a hill. A Herrerian influence and the process of the natural evolution of Spanish architecture can be observed. Classicism, sobriety, the disappearance of ribbed vaults, the use of Roman vaults and the use of brick masonry, typically Toledan, make this monument one of the most representative of Spanish classicist architecture and marginal to the influence of the Escorial style. The large transept has four small side chapels with Romanesque vaulting, and separating it from the foot, a magnificent iron grille, Renaissance in the Toledan style. The façade of the chancel is also of Toledo style. This façade overlooks Calle del Transparente, so called because it has a transparent window that illuminates the shrine and throne of the Virgin with sunlight. It preserves five paintings by El Greco: San Ildefonso, and La Caridad, La Coronación de la Virgen, La Natividad and La Anunciación, as well as the altarpieces of the main altar and those of the adjacent chapels.

It is thought to date back to the 11th century . Called Arco de Ugena, also known as "Puerta de Ugena", its construction is attributed to Alfonso VI, the king who recovered the town for Christianity in 1085. This monarch began the repopulation and colonisation of the area. Due to the instability of the time and the growth in the number of inhabitants, he set up a defensive fortification that also allowed the control and inspection of goods and people coming from the surrounding manorial territory. To this end, the area was surrounded by a wall with five access gates, the Madrid gate, the Toledo gate, the Talavera gate, the Sol gate and the Ugena gate, the latter of which has been partially preserved and whose current appearance is the result of the restoration carried out in 1995. This walled enclosure of which we also know of the construction of a fortress in the 15th century. XIV next to the Puerta del Sol, it suffered damage during the following centuries, in the revolts of Álvaro de Luna and in the War of the Communities, which meant that in the XVIII century there were hardly any remains of the fortification left. It is a unique building, in Gothic-Mudejar style, in its first phase of gestation, due to its morphology and the historical environment in which it was built. It is a square-shaped building, opened by two arches, pointed on the north side and semicircular on the south side that opens towards the town, the vault between them having been lost; it is closed on the other two sides facing east and west. The building is made of brick and masonry. Also known as the Pilgrims' Gate, it is one of the gates of the walled enclosure built by King Alfonso VI in 1085.

It is a building dating back to the 16th century . It was founded on the initiative of Cardinal Cisneros by papal bull of Pope Leo X in 1514. The cardinal requested the transfer of the site to build the convent, and in exchange for granting it, he was asked to restore the wall, and to build a sanctuary for the Virgin and a hospital. The Cardinal endowed the convent with sufficient income for thirty nuns, among whom was Sister Agnes, cousin of the Cardinal, and who was the first abbess of the convent. It is a two-storey building with an irregular ground plan. At the rear, it has a large yard with vegetable garden. The façade has a Toledo-style masonry with masonry brickwork between walls. The roofs are of arabic tiles with wooden corbelled eaves. The coat of arms of Cardinal Cisneros can still be seen. The most outstanding works inside are a fresco of Italian influence of the Holy Supper and an image of the Virgin of Bethlehem, of Gothic origin. Due to the scarcity that the convent has always had, its conservation has been deficient. After the damages of the War of Independence and the Civil War, it was difficult to conserve the extensive building, which is why the order decided to build a new one on part of the site that had fallen into disuse. The new convent was inaugurated on 24 June 1984.

The construction of the mill, on the site of another demolished mill, dates from the middle of the 20th century. In 1947, a family from Madrid bought it from some neighbours from Illescas who, in turn, had bought it from some millers, also from Illescas, in 1943. The last owner and his heirs made the arrangements for the sale in 2002. Popularly, the mill was known as "molino del marqués", however, according to the owners themselves, these estates have never belonged to a marquis, and even less to the marquis of Castellar, since this title does not exist. The site of the mill actually comprised three separate estates, two of which belonged to the family. One of the estates would include a courtyard, an oil mill, a caretaker's house, storehouses and a dovecote. All spaces around a courtyard. The other property consisted of an orchard and garden, the owners' house, as well as four warehouses and an electricity company transformer. The house, designed on the site of an old warehouse, was built after 1963, taking advantage of the fact that the factory (the mill) had to be rebuilt after a fire.

It is located on a hill and different levels of occupation have been detected. This is the oldest settlement, using adobe for the construction of the dwellings, which were plastered on the inside. The floors were made of trodden earth and the roofs of vegetable materials. This settlement dates from the second half of the 4nd century; a. C. Un segundo nivel de ocupación se fecharía entre los s. b. C. There is also evidence of later occupation levels, in medieval times, where a necropolis has been found, which would extend to the foot of the hill and two sanctuaries with silos next to its walls.

Ulmus minor which, according to popular tradition, may date from the end of the 16th century. This is the origin of its most common popular name, although it is also known as Olmo de la plaza de las Cadenas and Olmo de la Virgen. It is part of the cultural heritage of the population and of legends and traditions. Located in the Plaza de los Infanzones and the undisputed protagonist of the square. Two major and visible actions that were carried out on it during the 20th century in an attempt to support it are well known, and are still evident today in its appearance as a chained trunk.