Location
Las Rozas de Madrid is located in the north west of the metropolitan area of Madrid. It is a residential centre with a large commercial and leisure offering. It is 20km from the capital. El Pardo joins Las Rozas with the municipality of Madrid, and the river Guadarrama serves as the natural boundary between the municipalities of Galapagar and Villanueva del Pardillo.
From the environmental point of view, it is important to say that practically half of the municipal region is part of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares regional park, one of the most important protected areas in the region of Madrid. The average height of the town centre above sea level is about 718 metres.
Population
It began to grow demographically in the 1970s when the housing estates, which now give the town its identity, were first built. As a consequence, the town now has more than 76,000 inhabitants.
Useful Facts
Many
researchers have located
the Roman town of
Miacum in Las Rozas,
which would mean that
there has been a settlement
here for more than 2,000
years.
The church of San Miguel
Arcángel is late Gothic in
style and its
location is unusual
for a Mediaeval
parish church as it
is not located in
the centre of the
town. It was built
on a small hill to
one side of the
town, far from all
the other
buildings in the old village.
As happened with meny
other buildings at Las Rozas,
this church was destroyed
in the Civil War and had to
be rebuilt later on.
Fiestas
The fiestas of San Miguel, on 29 September, which include bull running on the streets and bullfights, and the pilgrimage of Nuestra Señora de Retamar, which takes place on the first Monday of May, are the two main fiestas in the year in the local calendar.
