Legend has it that, on April 25, 1242, Our Lady of Valverde appeared in Fuencarral, near the Colmenar Viejo road. A chapel was built on the site of the apparition. Christian believers have gathered here to worship the Virgin Mary since the sixteenth century, when Phillip II, member of the House of Habsburg and a staunch devotee, and later the early Bourbon monarchs offered financial support to the chapel. This place of worship was recognised as a diocesan shrine in 2012 and was named a Cultural Asset by the Community of Madrid on July 7, 2021.
A witness to a series of historical events during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this religious building complex belonging to the City of Madrid covers nearly 30,000 square meters. It includes two prayer halls – the Chapel of Our Lady of Valverde and the Chapel of Our Lady Guidance –; a former Dominican monastery turned cultural centre; and a grand mansion that belonged to the Marquises of Murillo, which is currently home to the cultural centre’s offices. On the first floor of the cultural centre, there is a youth centre, while the ground floor and cloisters house a coffee shop and a visitor centre dedicated to the natural areas of Cuenca Alta del Manzanares and Monte de El Pardo. The auditorium is in the basement.
Access to the buildings is through an open arcade made of five granite round arches featuring wrought iron grilles. The central arch is the entrance, while the four side arches act as windows. The facade is crowned by an open niche holding a religious sculpture and seven stone pinnacles.
The shrine consists of a single nave, flanked by side chapels, and a transept. The chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, added in the eighteenth century, is quite remarkable. It features two altars, for the Virgin Mary and the Christ of the Good Death.
The shrine is run by the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Valverde. With the help of collaborating companies, the brethren take care of its maintenance and rehabilitation, as well as of its use for religious purposes.
