El Club · Maderuelo

The Arco de la Villa is the main walled gate of Maderuelo, in Maderuelo (Segovia, Castilla y León), and in the local tourist information sheet it is listed as a museum type resource. It is located at the entrance to the historic center, with coordinates 41.48369, -3.52436, and is part of the defensive monuments of the town. It is a structure of medieval origin, linked to the old wall and the system of closing the population. The tourist guides of Segovia place the foundation of Maderuelo in early times, with references to the tenth century for the town, within the first defensive line of the Duero during the Reconquest. The most outstanding patrimonial element of the Arco de la Villa is its preservation as a fortified entrance, with bolts, potern and armored wooden doors, according to the provincial tourist documentation. These defenses preserve the character of controlled access to the town and help to understand the medieval organization of the enclosure. Maderuelo preserves a historic urban layout of great value, articulated around its walls and other heritage assets of the complex, which reinforces the interest of the Arco de la Villa as a key piece of the local historic landscape. Its importance is both architectural and urban, as it is one of the symbolic and functional accesses to the old town.

The Ermita de la Vera Cruz is a Romanesque church-eremitorium located outside the walls of Maderuelo, in the province of Segovia, Castilla y León, in the surroundings of the historic village next to the river Riaza. It is a small temple of worship, closely linked to the religious and artistic heritage of the municipality, and protected as an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1924. Its construction dates back to the end of the 11th century or, more probably, to the beginning of the 12th century. It presents a very sober Romanesque architectural language, with a single nave, presbytery or rectangular chapel and semicircular triumphal arch. It is built with ashlar masonry in the most noble parts and calicanto masonry in the rest, a common solution in rural buildings of this period. The interior is notable for preserving an important set of 12th century Romanesque mural paintings, considered among the most remarkable in Spain. These paintings were transferred to the Prado Museum in 1947 to protect them from the flooding associated with the Linares reservoir, and a replica was later installed in the chapel to maintain the heritage interpretation of the space. The hermitage also preserves other Romanesque features of interest, such as the compositional simplicity of the volume, the barrel vault roof in the presbytery and the traditional masonry elements that reinforce its value as an exceptional testimony of the Romanesque style of Segovia in the rural area.

The Church of San Miguel de Maderuelo is a religious building of Romanesque tradition, identified in the local tourist documentation as a church and also as a hermitage, located in the historic center of Maderuelo, Segovia, within the medieval heritage of the town. The location provided coincides with the intramural enclosure of this town, one of the best known monumental enclaves of the province. Its origin dates back to the 12th century, in the context of rural Castilian Romanesque architecture. The primitive construction responds to a simple typology, with a single nave and semicircular apse, and is related to the old western defensive system of the medieval town. Later, in the 15th century, the building was enlarged with a second rectangular nave and a small belfry, which introduces an architectural interpretation of late medieval evolution. In the interior, burials in Gothic arches are documented, among them the tombstone of the Hermosa family, a relevant testimony of its funerary use and the continuity of the local memory. The transformation of the old bell tower of the primitive Romanesque hermitage into a dwelling is also mentioned, a unique feature that reflects the adaptation of the building over time. Today it is a heritage asset without worship, integrated in the monumental visit of Maderuelo along with other historical resources of the town. Its value lies in the combination of rural Romanesque, Gothic additions and later transformations, which allow us to read the constructive and social history of the medieval center of Segovia.

The Church of Santa María del Castillo is a religious temple located in the upper part of Maderuelo, in Segovia, integrated in the medieval walled town and linked by its location to the ancient defensive function of the complex. Its name and position above the hamlet reinforce its strategic character within the historic center of the town. It is a church of medieval origin, with a first factory related to the 13th century and successive later transformations. The consulted informative sources indicate a construction on a Romanesque building and reforms in the XV and XVI centuries, with later reconstructions; for that reason it presents a mixture of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Mudejar elements, in addition to caliphal remains mentioned by the local patrimonial tradition. Among its most outstanding patrimonial elements are the plateresque main altarpiece, attributed to Gabriel de Sosa and Alberto Castellanos in 1556, the representation of the Sagra de la Santa Cena, a pulpit and a baptismal font of Romanesque tradition. Also mentioned is the presence of a child mummy found in the 19th century, preserved as a singular piece of the temple. In the historical context of Maderuelo, declared a historical site, the church is part of the main monumental tour of the town and is visited along with other heritage resources of the old town. Its exact location corresponds to the Plaza de Santa María, with views of the Linares del Arroyo reservoir and the surroundings of the medieval bridge.

The Mirador de las Hoces del Riaza is a scenic observation point located in Maderuelo, in the province of Segovia, within the environment of the Natural Park of the Riaza River Sickles. From this enclave, the fluvial canyon carved by the Riaza River dominates, one of the great geological features of the protected area, with limestone cliffs and a strong presence of birds of prey. The main interest of the viewpoint is in the reading of the landscape: the gorges, the river and the mosaic of slopes and meadows that make up this sector of northeastern Segovia, very close to Burgos. The area is known for the abundance of griffon vultures and for being an outstanding refuge for rock fauna, which makes the visit a good opportunity to observe the link between relief, vegetation and birdlife. Its relevance is not only panoramic, but also environmental, because it is part of an area declared a Natural Park for its natural, scenic and wildlife value. In the local guides it appears as a nature resource linked to Maderuelo and the views over the gorges, useful to understand why this section of the Riaza is protected and why it attracts hikers and visitors interested in wildlife observation.

The Mirador de Santa María is a heritage tourism resource integrated in the historical complex of Maderuelo, in the province of Segovia. It is located next to the church of Santa María del Castillo and is part of the defensive and landscape system of the town, taking advantage of the edge of the wall and the elevation of the medieval town to open views over the reservoir of Linares del Arroyo and the medieval bridge. It is not a free-standing monument, but an observation point associated with the remains of the fortifications and the historical topography of the town. Local tourist sources describe it as a viewpoint next to Santa María with panoramic views of the reservoir and the bridge, in an environment of a fortified medieval village declared a Historic Site of Cultural Interest. Maderuelo reached its greatest development in medieval times, especially between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, within the process of Castilian repopulation. The viewpoint is understood as part of that defensive urban fabric, in relation to the preserved wall, the towers and the sector of Santa María, one of the most visited heritage sites in the municipality.

The Maderuelo Wall is a medieval walled enclosure located in Maderuelo, province of Segovia, Castilla y León, within the historic center of the town. It is a defensive element associated with the fortified character of the town, still visible in several sections of wall and in preserved historical accesses. The provincial tourist sources place the Maderuelo complex as a defensive village of medieval origin, linked to the first line of defensive nuclei of the Reconquest on the left bank of the Duero; for the wall, the references describe remains of canvases and gates such as the Puerta de la Villa, the Puerta del Barrio and the Poterna de Alcárcel. The sources consulted do not give an exact date of construction of the wall, but they do ascribe it to the medieval period and to the historical configuration of the town between the 10th and later centuries. Therefore, the correct heritage interpretation is that of a medieval wall with a military and urban function, integrated in a historical complex of strong landscape value. Among its outstanding documented elements are the preserved sections of wall and the old access gates, which explain the defensive organization of the settlement and its relationship with the relief of the hill where Maderuelo is located.

The Linares del Arroyo Dam, in Maderuelo (Segovia), is a large reservoir of the Riaza and Aguisejo river system, in the region of Ayllon, at the foot of the Sierra de Ayllon. The available information places it with a surface area of around 550 hectares and a useful volume of around 56 hm³, although other sources cite 473 hectares and 58 hm³, so these figures should be taken as a guide. It is a landscape of extensive water and smooth banks, very different from the limestone gorges that appear downstream. From Maderuelo there are wide views of the reservoir basin and its slopes, with a quiet and open environment that is interesting both for its scenic value and for the contrast between the medieval village and the sheet of water. The PRC-SG-10 route runs through this sector with a short circular itinerary of low difficulty, designed for walking and observation of the surroundings. Its heritage and landscape interest is linked to the history of the old Linares del Arroyo, a town flooded by the construction of the dam in the mid-twentieth century. Some sources indicate that the reservoir was inaugurated in 1951 and that it was used for hydroelectric and irrigation purposes. This memory of the lost settlement, together with the aquatic landscape, explains much of the uniqueness of the place. In addition, the reservoir is associated with the natural area of the Riaza River Sickles, where fauna linked to wetlands and birds such as otters, grey herons and various ducks can be found. For this reason, the visit is of particular interest to those who are looking for a place of transition between reservoir, riverbank and countryside, with environmental value and a clear historical reading.