Galapagar is a town and municipality northwest of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain, situated in the autonomous community of the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

. Of all the towns in the area, it was experiencing the most growth, mostly because of immigration and the conversion of old

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

fields into terrain for

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

. Bordering with

Collado Villalba Collado Villalba () is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, in central Spain. It is located 40.3 kilometres north-west of the city of Madrid, at an altitude of 917 meters above sea level. It has a population of 64,263 (2022), with a popula ...

, Colmenarejo,

Torrelodones Torrelodones is a municipality in the northwest of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Spain. It is situated 29 kilometers northwest from the city of Madrid. Because of its location between the Sierra de Guadarrama and the metropolitan area of the ...

Las Rozas de Madrid Las Rozas de Madrid (, or simply, Las Rozas ) is a municipality in the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain, with an area of 59 km² (22¾ sq. mi.). The municipality is served by three Renfe railway stations– Las Rozas, Pinar de Las ...

El Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (), or (), is a historical residence of the king of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, up the valley ( road distance) from the town of El Escorial, Madrid, El ...

San Lorenzo de El Escorial San Lorenzo de El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Arriba, is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located to the northwest of the region in the southeastern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, at the foot of Moun ...

, Villanueva del Pardillo, Hoyo de Manzanares, Moralzarzal and

Guadarrama Guadarrama is a town and municipality in the Cuenca del Guadarrama comarca, in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Its population is 17,063 according to the Continuous Register of 2023; the population swells to approximately 60,000 in summer. In th ...

. The name Galapagar comes from the Spanish ''galápago'', meaning

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

, as the town centre was settled near a lake full of turtles. The town first appears as a village in the eleventh century, its importance due to the frequent hunting expeditions by the Spanish royalty, and being a main stop on the road from the capital to the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de

. Sights in the town include the church of The

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

(Assumption). Galapagar is served by lines C-3, C-8 and C-10 of the

Cercanías Madrid Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service that serves Madrid, the capital of Spain, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of Renfe, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. Its tot ...

commuter rail service at its Galapagar-La Navata train station; and by 9 lines of Interurban Bus Service linking it to Moncloa district of Madrid. Jacinto Benavente, one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century and 1922 laurate of the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

, is buried here. The British writer Malcolm Brocklehurst lived in the village between 1982 and 1983.

Bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

, stock-breeding, meadows and beef are the main features of Galapagar. The bullfighter José Tomás was born in this place.

References

Municipalities in the Community of Madrid {{Madrid-geo-stub

See also

References