HISTORY

The municipality is located on four small hills in the plain between the Tagus and the Extremadura Motorway. It belongs to the La Campana de Oropesa región and adjoins the municipalities of Velada, Talavera de la Reina, Las Herencias, Belvís de la Jara, Aldeanueva de Barbarroya, Alcolea de Tajo, Oropesa, Alcañizo and Dehesa del Horcajo (a municipality detached from Oropesa), all of them in Toledo.

The municipality is crossed by the Majadillas, Valverde, Valpedregoso, Fuente-polo, Fuente del piojo, Cobisa and Tórtolas streams, all of which flow into the Tagus.ajo.

It was founded around 1400 as a settlement of workers in various lime mines, which provided the material for the construction of the Talavera de la Reina Collegiate. On 27th June 1809, during the Peninsular Wars, the townspeople attacked some lagging French soldiers. This enraged the French General, the Duke de Bellune, who had the town set on fire and all inhabitants who hadn’t fled put to the knife.

On 3rd October 1833 a Carlist party was raised in Talavera under the orders of one González, a Talavera postmaster, who took hold of the public funds, threw Liberals into prison, and made his way to Calera to proclaim Charles V as King, but the mayor demanded that he present the order authorising him to make such a proclamation. This bought him enough time to free the town and prevent a conspiracy which might have put an end to Isabella II’s reign.

 During the Spanish Civil War, Calera remained loyal to the Republic until it was taken by the National forces on 2nd September 1936 in their advance towards Talavera
.

MONUMENTS

     Parish Chuch of San Pedro Apóstol:

The Calera parish church is devoted to the Apostle Saint Peter. It is of Romanesque style. It has a 16th-century Renaissance façade, with a triangular pediment topped with balls. Some of its windows still trace the arch leading to the apse, with its semi-circular lines, a feature of the late Gothic period when it was built.

The presbytery and the first floor of the tower are built in stone. The rest is brick and adobe, which probably indicates that its construction took place over several periods of time.

The initial building may have been left unfinished, or maybe it was burnt and razed in the 19th century, during the French invasion, and was rebuilt in later centuries. An example of this theory can be seen in the third floor of the tower, which initially had two bodies, as proven by the outline of the window arches where the bells would have been originally placed. Taking a close look, there is a circular walled-up area above the largest bell on the main façade, which makes it likely that there was a clock there at some point. Moreover, there is an inscription across four tiles on the left outer Wall, which clearly says 1830.  

The church is a temple made up of three rather narrow naves, with a side chapel in the Gospel area, which can be reached through a basket-handle arch or campanel, and which is devoted to Our Lady of the River Plain. The temple is rectangular in shape and is 35 m long and 13 m wide, including the apse. .

The presbytery is covered by a half dome. The transept dome is supported on adjoined columns, topped by Corinthian capitals. The side naves are separated by three semi-circular arches. Outstanding among the capitals is one with transitional carvings, halfway between the Gothic and the Renaissance period. Some column shafts are monolithic, while others are divided into different parts. All of them are granite.

The rest of the parish temple is made up of two side chapels some 7 by 5 m large, the one dedicated to the Holy Christ of Chozas and the other to Our Lady of Dolour. There are also two smaller rooms, one of which is used as vestry and the other for the exhibition of religious images and objects. The choir, which has a brick floor and a wooden balustrade, houses the remains of an old organ, whose trumpets, though now silent, still point towards the ceiling.

The artistic heritage is comprised of two 15th-century ornamented holy water fonts in granite, besides the christening font.

     San Policarpo Shrine:

The San Policarpo Shrine, as shown by the remains found, was possibly the first temple used by Calera workers, when whole families came to work in the lime furnaces and in the river plain fields. These Calera families were later on joined by the neighbours of the vanished towns of Cobisa and Chozas. It is likely that this was the original place for religious meetings before the Parish Church was built.

According to history, during the Peninsular Wars the French burnt both citizens and buildings, indiscriminately.

The shrine, which has been recently restored, is dedicated to Saint Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna (Turkey) during the second half of the 1st century. He possibly met some of Jesus’s disciples, and was persecuted for his faith and thrown into the stadium to be martyred. The people picked up wood, tied him to a stake, and set the wood on fire. When the mob saw that the fire wouldn’t burn him, he was stabbed while praying in praised. That is possibly why the old inhabitants of Calera, the lime workers, took him as their patron saint: so that he would save them from accidents or from dying burnt by the lime.

FESTIVITIES

   Santísimo Cristo de Chozas

Festivities take place on 13th and 14th August, and last for about 15 days. .

Scheduled events, together with the various religious acts, are the following: Flower offering. Folk dances. Parade with floats, gigantes y cabezudos, fairs, bullfights, and competitios.
 

    Nuestra Señora la Virgen de la Vega 

The fair is held in honour of the Virgin of the River Plain.

Scheduled events, together with the various religious acts, are the following: fair, dances, and shows.