Travel Guide Alcalá De Henares

Located 30 km northeast of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares was founded by the Romans as Complutum. Its remains can still be seen today. It was the Arabs who occupied it, giving it its current name of Al-Qal'at Wadi Al Hiyara, the "fortress of the stone river". After their expulsion in 1118, it came under the authority of the Archbishopric of Toledo, which built a palace-fortress there. In 1499, Cardinal Cisneros decided to found a university, making Alcalá an important intellectual center in the country on a par with Salamanca. By the middle of the 16th century, the university had almost 12,000 students and even published a polyglot Bible. Its transfer to Madrid in 1836 marked the beginning of Alcalá de Henares' decline. A decline that lasted until the middle of the 20th century. Today, the town has recovered its university and, in December 1998, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Miguel de Cervantes can be traced from the house-museum where he was born in 1547, in the Calle Mayor, and his baptismal font in the chapel of the Oïdor (Plaza Cervantes), to the bronze statue dedicated to him in the heart of the old town. Other famous names also benefited from daily life in Alcalá de Henares, including the poet Quevedo (1580-1645), playwrights Tirso de Molina (1571-1648) and Lope de Vega (1562-1635). Also worth a visit are the cathedral and the regional archaeological museum.