Las Ventas con Peña Aguilera

The church of San Pedro Apóstol, declared BIC in 1993, is a Gothic style church from the end of the 15th century that conserves decorative motifs in the Puerta del Sol that belong to a late Gothic style, however the tower is in the Mudejar style of the predominance that the Mudejar style has in the province of Toledo and especially in its capital, from the 12th century until practically the 18th century, built in bricks with masonry and the bell tower is made of bricks with a decoration of horseshoe arches typical of Muslim art. It is named after San Pedro because part of this land belonged to the chapel of San Pedro in the Cathedral of Toledo, which partly financed the construction of this church, and in this case it does not bear the name of the patron saint as is the case in other localities. The other part of this municipality belonged to the city council of Toledo, hence the two marble plaques on the façade with the symbols of the city of Toledo, symbols that can still be seen on numerous buildings in the city, and which are still in use today. It was the city council of Toledo that also financed the construction of this church. Inside, we can see the typical Gothic church divided into three naves with pointed and semicircular arches built in stone, It has a star-shaped dome over the apse with wooden carvings representing the keys of Saint Peter as protector of the church. Thanks to the restoration carried out at the end of the 20th century, it has even been possible to recover part of the polychrome with which the walls and dome were decorated and where two coats of arms appear, linked to two noble families of the time, the Ortiz and the Albarrán, who also financed the construction of this church. It has a large choir at the entrance, which indicates the importance of this religious community during the 15th and 16th centuries. During the restoration work, paintings from the first church were uncovered, which gives us an idea of the decoration of all the walls, which unfortunately has not been preserved today. On the right side is the baroque chapel of the Concepción, built at the beginning of the 17th century by the noble family of the Ortiz-Albarrán, families who had joined together to increase their wealth and whose coat of arms in stone we have seen on the outside of the chapel. The original 17th century altarpiece, the work of the important sculptor Rafael de León, was destroyed during the Civil War, leaving only the crucified Christ who presided over the Calvary of that altarpiece as testimony to its existence. It is currently located in the right nave of the church, the nave of the epistle.

This is the public school Ntra. Sra. Del Águila located in this town, consists of two modules joined to a central module, which in its beginnings was the library, nowadays it is a classroom. This central module connects with the lateral ones through two corridors with semicircular arches, which were originally the entrances to the enclosure and are now closed to the outside, preserving the aesthetics of the building, and which contain the library and the teachers' room. The side modules have two floors separated on the façade by red marble rectangles. On the ground floor there are two semicircular arches with voussoirs and keystones, carved in granite and supported by simple pilasters (corresponding to part of the corridors joining the central module). The first floor has windows with jambs and lintels of the same material and a terrace over the corridor that connects to the central module. Along the cornice runs an ornament of prismatic modillions, finishing off the very irregular masonry walls with granites of bluish and pinkish tones that are perfectly interlocked. The corners, openings and eaves are of ashlar carved in lighter granite, which contrasts with that of the walls. Between the two terraces (corridors), a ground floor building topped with a pediment, which gives the whole a neoclassical air. The façades are presided over by the coats of arms of the Virgen del Águila and the Counts of Casal, exquisitely carved by the stone craftsmen Luis Martin de Vidales and Natalio Bermejo. In addition to the building itself, the environment surrounding the monument should also be protected. These are the central courtyard and the side courtyards, most of which have retained their original stone enclosure. This building dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, more precisely it was built in 1906 and put into operation in 1907. Its architect and designer was Ezequiel Martín, a native of Las Ventas Con Peña Aguilera, who knew how to harmonise the building perfectly with its surroundings. It is a building made of stone, a characteristic material of the locality and of this area of the Toledo mountains, which in its central module is inspired by the neoclassical style.

The current main chapel of this hermitage was built at the end of the 15th century, in the popular style, in Berroqueña stone. According to the documentation that has survived to the present day, this chapel was enlarged in the 17th century with the construction of a larger nave, replacing the small nave that existed previously. It was built in stone from the land and was completed at the end of the 17th century with the installation of the belfry, the altarpiece and the chapel (located behind the main chapel). It has a stele from the Roman period underneath the current floor.

The site of Santa Lucía is located to the south of the present-day municipality of Las Ventas with Peña Aguilera, next to the Galiana royal cattle track, and is so named due to the presence of two related architectural elements, on the one hand a fountain from the Roman period and on the other the Santa Lucía Chapel. According to some researchers, this stone fountain, of the same type as the "fountain of the Virgin" on the Cerro del Águila hill, is also a late Roman funerary monument and, according to other research, a Greco-Roman fountain with Greco-Byzantine inscriptions, related to the existence of a possible martyrium next to which the hermitage of Santa Lucía would later be built. This hermitage may have been created as a Christian mausoleum, dating from the end of the 15th century and completed at the beginning of the 17th century, built in masonry and in which some fresco paintings were discovered, of which it is not possible to know the full iconography they represent because during the 19th century this hermitage was used as a cemetery and the walls were whitewashed, with the result that most of the original paintings disappeared. For some researchers these paintings mix Gothic and Renaissance elements and are dated to the late 16th or early 17th century, while others attribute them to 18th-century popular art that imitates Gothic elements. Both studies agree on the iconographic programme, part of which has survived.

A rocky elevation located to the east of the current municipality of Las Ventas with Peña Aguilera, whose beginnings are inserted in this locality, with a height of approximately 900 metres, it possesses in its upper part not only the hermitage of the Virgen del Águila, patron saint of the municipality, and the windmill but also remains of different civilisations that have populated this place over the centuries. Like other areas of settlement in this municipality, studies on these settlements and the different civilisations that have passed through and inhabited this area are really scarce and are mainly focused on the research that a local historian has passed on to us. Through these investigations we can take a brief look at the history of this area, which shows signs of evidence of different civilisations, a history that begins with the presence of the Neolithic civilisation, as shown by several fragments of pottery from this period, scattered around the perimeter of the aforementioned hill and in the so-called "Eagle Cave", where a cave painting has also been found, which due to its poor state of conservation it is not possible to know what type of representation it alludes to. In the Chalcolithic period there was a boom in the habitation of this area. Numerous ceramic remains and structures have been found which show a more static and defined settlement, as remains of walls have been found linked to the large stones of the terrain and foundations of possible huts, although their poor state of preservation does not allow for a more in-depth study. Alongside these buildings, numerous ceramic remains from this period have been found, more specifically from the Late Bronze Age, including a ceramic plate idol, a polished axe, an arrowhead, a flint knife and two sickle teeth, as well as different ceramic fragments that allow us to relate these remains of buildings to this culture. During the occupation of this area by the Carpetan civilisation, there are no data or research that can corroborate the settlement of the Cerro del Águila by this civilisation. With the Romanisation of the lands of the Toledo mountains, the settlement of this hill took place during the different phases of the Roman Empire's domination of the Iberian Peninsula. We are going to find in this place the presence of numerous fragments of the so-called "terra sigilata", Roman pottery that has changed in its decorative characteristics throughout the domination of the Roman Empire and that has left its mark in this area, next to it has also appeared a loom weight and a funerary cypus or commemorative stele of the sacralization of a place, which was found on the floor inside the hermitage of the Virgen del Águila and which is no longer preserved because it was destroyed at the end of the 20th century, although according to some researchers, this last element could be an altar with a votive inscription dedicated to an uncertain indigenous religious divinity or to a Roman divinity. But the Roman presence on this hill is also evident in the presence of a possible Roman nymphaeum, located in the middle part of the hill called "fountain of the Virgin", according to some researchers it could be a late Roman funerary monument. This settlement of the Cerro del Águila hill will be consolidated and will continue in the Visigothic period due to the presence of numerous ceramic remains of Visigothic characteristics (6th-7th centuries), as well as the appearance of the foundations of a wall and a tower together with remains of roof tiles dating from the Visigothic period. Due to the construction of the mill and miller's house, both the wall and the tower from the Visigothic period disappeared. After the arrival of the Arabs to the lands of Vente, the settlement of the Cerro del Águila went into decline, although it did not disappear, as few ceramic remains have been found that bear witness to the presence of this civilisation, and later the inhabitants of this settlement would abandon it until it was depopulated during the Reconquest. There is a great lack of information on this village from the 12th to the 15th century, which does not allow us to provide any relevant data on the historical sequence of settlement in this place. From the 15th century onwards, the various documents of the time mention the existence of the village of Santa María del Águila on the top of this hill, a hamlet of few inhabitants and of little importance, which disappeared definitively, like Peña Aguilera, in the 16th century to form part of the present-day town of Las Ventas with Peña Aguilera.

It is a natural area located approximately one kilometre to the north of the current town of Las Ventas with Peña Aguilera, bounded to the north by a small elevation where there is a tower from the Muslim period, to the east by the Segovian royal cattle track, to the west by the slopes of the Águila hill and to the south by the municipality itself. It is a valley that contains a large amount of materials and architectural elements that have passed through this place during the course of history, elements and materials that have been little studied at present, but due to the few studies by local scholars and professional researchers we can construct a historical sequence about this picturesque spot for the inhabitants of this locality. According to studies and research in this valley, the presence of civilisation during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods has been suggested by the discovery of certain lithic materials. It was from the Neolithic period onwards that the presence of material, as well as the existence of some structures, could be accurately documented, and which testify to the presence of Neolithic civilisation in this valley, as polished quartzite and flint axes have been found, as well as a large quantity of pottery. This nomadic population that would pass through this place would continue during the Chalcolithic period and more specifically from the Late Bronze Age onwards, as coarse-grained handmade pottery and polished axes have been found scattered throughout the valley. However, it was not until the Roman period that we find evidence of a more permanent civilisation in this place, not only because of the numerous remains of light and grey sigillata ceramics, but also because of the appearance of an early Christian basilica dating from the 5th century, a basilica that conserves its foundations and some stone pilasters. In the excavation carried out by some researchers around this basilica, not only have they brought to light these foundations, but they have also brought to light numerous remains of ceramic material, remains of tegulae, imbrices and bricks that belong to a late Roman period that begins to introduce elements of the Visigothic culture, therefore we find remains of a civilisation that is undergoing a transformation, that is, the passage from Roman customs and ways of life to Visigothic customs and ways of life, Even so, Roman elements predominate over Visigothic ones, as bricks with finger marks have been found, and the most curious thing is two bricks, one with the mark of the right foot and the other with the mark of the left foot, which indicates the Roman custom of placing this type of brick on the thresholds of the doors of buildings as a symbol of protection against evil spirits, together with an imbricate with a small text indicating "onae", so perhaps it could belong to the person who made the roof tiles. Although it is not possible to determine the existence of a specific type of civilisation during this changing 5th century, we can testify to the presence of a later Visigothic civilisation, as numerous ceramic materials belonging to this culture have been found in the Chorrito valley, ceramics dating from the 6th and 7th centuries, some of which show the representation of the tree of life, which indicates the predominance of the Christian religion in this area. It has also been discovered in this valley the existence of a construction at the foot of the small elevation where the Muslim tower is located, next to this construction there have been found numerous remains of late Roman and Visigothic ceramics, however, it is difficult to guess what type of construction existed in this place due to the lack of study of these archaeological remains. The most characteristic and visible feature of this valley are the numerous rock-hewn tombs scattered throughout the valley, a necropolis linked to the Visigoth civilisation and possibly reused over the centuries during which the valley was inhabited. Tombs of different sizes and characteristics have been found, i.e. anthropomorphic, rectangular, trapezoidal and sarcophagus-type tombs, which are linked to the remains of constructions belonging to square-shaped houses made of masonry and which in some cases took advantage of rock outcrops to enclose the dwellings. With the arrival of the Arabs in the mountains, the settlement in this place continued, where a large quantity of Arab ceramics of all types (glazed honey, green, white and dry rope ceramics) have been found, which allows us to date a continuous settlement from the 8th century to the 12th century, This must be linked above all to the construction and presence of this small Muslim tower built at this time as a watchtower, very similar to others found in the mountains of Toledo and which had the function of guarding and protecting the passage through this region. Next to this tower, dated to the 10th and 11th centuries and made of brick masonry with lime and sand mortar, remains of Roman and Visigothic sigillata ceramics have been found, which could have been reused by the Arabs or, as some researchers have stated, the presence of this type of ceramics could be linked to the existence of a tower from the Roman-Visigothic period. With the Christian reconquest of these lands, the village of Peña Aguilera located in the Chorrito valley would be abandoned, and although the Christian action of repopulating this area would later bring inhabitants to this village, the different Muslim incursions from the south would lead to the village being razed to the ground in 1213 and therefore left uninhabited.

The area of El Milagro, of which only the hermitage, the ruined walls of the castle and part of the old medieval fence remain today, was a place of great strategic interest in the late Middle Ages, where the archbishop D. Rodrigo Jiménez Rada put all his efforts to repopulate and conceived a large village with extensive domains under the jurisdiction of the Castle of El Milagro. Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada put all his repopulating efforts into it and conceived a large village with extensive domains under the jurisdiction of the Castillo del Milagro. The same prelate directed the work on the fortress and town, living for long periods of time with the settlers. Therefore, the castle was an ancient Muslim fortress that was heavily reformed by Jiménez de Rada, archbishop of Toledo. It was built in 1214 to prevent Almohad raids on Toledo through this pass. Today, only a large 600-metre-long wall and part of the ramparts, the remains of towers and inner chambers and a castle cistern are preserved. As for the chapel, it was built on the same site as the original 13th century chapel, which must have undergone repairs and transformations over the course of seven hundred years, until it reached the appearance we know today. Not so long ago, slate tombstones with very deteriorated Gothic inscriptions in borders could still be seen in the surrounding area. We therefore find ourselves before one of the oldest Marian sanctuaries in the mountains of Toledo, where the cult has remained continuous since the 13th century, despite the vicissitudes and migratory movements of its former inhabitants, whose descendants have made possible the miracle of maintaining an uninterrupted tradition for nearly seven hundred years, in one of the places with the greatest historical content in the region, linked to the great archbishop D. Rodrigo Jiménez Rada, its founder. Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, its founder.

The contemplation of the groves of the Milagro river is a real joy, a natural space without intervention and with a very high ecological value, as human activities have been minimal. Habitats of great interest appear, such as arboreal and shrubby river galleries, palustrine herbaceous formations, amphibious and/or aquatic communities of seasonal wetlands. There is also a wide variety of fauna, including otters, wild cats, Iberian lynxes, goshawks, sparrowhawks, short-toed eagles, carrion-eagles and red kites. All along the river stretch there are populations of the leper pond turtle, pygmy newt and Iberian newt.

Las Ventas with Peña Aguilera forms part of the route of the Segovian cordel that connects with the cordel de las Merinas and leads to the city of Toledo. The cordel that passes through this municipality is a communication route with the towns of Cuerva and El Molinillo in Ciudad Real, and is widely used for sports such as cycling, hiking and running. As well as for the flocks of sheep that still remain in the area, which is the main objective of these roads, to connect territories to find the best pastures for livestock. This stretch is highly recommended, because you can observe such impressive species of fauna as the Iberian imperial eagle, which nests in this area; the black vulture, which leaves Cabañeros in search of food; the red kite, which crosses the area on its way to its roost, in the area around the Milagro pass; in summer hoopoes, bee-eaters, some lesser kestrels, and so on. And at dawn or dusk we may be lucky enough to come across a roe deer or even a lynx.