Meco () is a municipality in the eastern part of the

Autonomous 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 ...

, (Spain). In 2006, Meco had a population of 11,094 (

Spanish National Statistics Institute The (INE; ) is the official government agency in Spain that collects statistics about demography, the economy, and Spanish society. It is an autonomous organization responsible for overall coordination of statistical services of the General St ...

). The town is located to the north of the River Henares, in the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

of La Campiña del Henares, and also in one of the two natural sub-comarcas that make up the

Comarca de Alcalá Comarca de Alcalá is an historical ''comarca'' of Castile, located in what is now the east of the Community of Madrid, in Spain. Its head or capital city is Alcalá de Henares. Officially the Community of Madrid is not subdivided into formal '' ...

, La Campiña del Henares, characterized by vast grain fields and gentle hills. It is 8 km to the north of the metropolitan area of

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

and 4 km from the

University of Alcalá The University of Alcalá () is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Madrid in Spain and also the third-largest city of the region. It was founded in 1293 as a ''Studium Generale'' for t ...

. It provides residences for the university and also is part of the Henares Industrial Corridor. On the east, Meco borders the municipalities of

Azuqueca de Henares Azuqueca de Henares is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2013 census ( INE), the municipality had a population of 34,685 inhabitants. The mayor of Azuqueca is José Luis Blanco. His ...

and Villanueva de la Torre, of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, and also the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

of Castile-La Mancha. It can be reached by the Royal Cattle Track of Galiana or Riojana, and by the last section of the Henares Canal.

Geography

*Altitude: 673 m *Latitude: 40° 33′ 00″ N *Longitude: 003° 19′ 59″ E Located at the edge of one of the terraces of the River Henares, 35 km from the capital, Madrid. The rivers Las Monjas, Villanueva, and its tributary, Valdegatos. Meco also has the distinction of being Spain's most distant populated area from the sea.

Economy

A town with a dry-soil agricultural tradition, Meco has long been an exporter of wheat, flour and bread to Alcalá,

, and Madrid. Also, its economy is based on salt mining.

History

There are archaeological remains from the Iron Age, as well as a Roman

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

. The municipality may have originated as a Roman agricultural estate, and may have been a wheat staple in Muslim times. After the re-conquest of the Media Marca (Middle March) by

Alfonso VI Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...

, it came to form part of the Commune of Villa and Land of Guadalajara. In the 15th century, King Juan II gave it to the Marquis of Santillana, Iñigo López de Mendoza, who passed it ti his second son, Iñigo López de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla. The son of Iñigo López de Mendoza, also of the same name, added the title of Marquis of Móndejar by buying this villa from the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

. In 1801,

was separated from the administration of

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

and became capital of the administrative region. It also separated from Guadalajara, coming to form part of the region of

Art

Among the buildings of the town, a magnificent parish Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Meco) stands out. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

, and is located on Plaza de la Constitución. Construction started in the middle of the 16th century in the Gothic Transitional style, and was completed in the 17th in

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. The presbytery was therefore built of limestone masonry, while the sacristy and tower were brick. A

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

with columns, its design has been attributed to

Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón (1500–1577) was a Spanish architect of the Renaissance. He was born at Rascafría. His work alternated the late gothic with the renaissance style. His workings include the Palace of Monterrey in Salamanca, the Pala ...

by some historians. It has three naves, the middle one with

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

s flattened at the top, and the lateral ones with pointed

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

es. Its Baroque

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

is constructed on

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s. It is surrounded by an atrium. It was listed as an Artistic Historical Monument in 1982, and has been part of the

Cultural Heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

of the Community of Madrid since 1992. The town's main street also has fine examples of spacious historic houses. There are two hermitages: that of Christ of Succour (''Christo del Socorro'', late 16th century?) and that of the Virgin (''Virgen de la Cabeza'', 17th century).

Demographic development

Public transport

Meco has a train station which connects the village with

and

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 ...

, along with many other cities and villages. It is connected with A-2 highway. It also has two line buses, which are the following: * Line 222:

(Avenida de América) - Meco ( ALSA) * Line 250: Alcalá de Henares - Meco (ALSA)

References

External links

Ayuntamiento de Meco
(Spanish)

Statistics

Statistics Institute of the Community of Madrid (Spanish)

Street guide, maps and aerial photos

Statistics Institute of the Community of Madrid - Official nomenclature and street guide - Municipal statistics (Spanish)
{{authority control Municipalities in the Community of Madrid