Alcantud

Alcantud municipality
Alcantud - town view
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile-La Mancha
Province :	Cuenca
Comarca :	La Alcarria
Coordinates	40 ° 33 ′  N , 2 ° 20 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 33 ′  N , 2 ° 20 ′  W
Height :	845  msnm
Area :	57.63 km²
Residents :	51 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	0.88 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	16812
Municipality number  ( INE ):	16009
administration
Website :	Alcantud

Alcantud is a place and a central Spanish municipality ( municipio ) with only 51 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the north of the province of Cuenca in the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha . Alcantud belongs to the cultural landscape of the Alcarria and the Serranía Celtibérica, which is affected by a persistent decline in population .

Location and climate

The place Alcantud is located on the west side of the Iberian Mountains at an altitude of approx. 845  m . The provincial capital Cuenca is located almost 70 km (driving distance) to the southeast. The climate in winter is temperate, while in summer it is warm to hot; the rather low amounts of precipitation (approx. 550 mm / year) fall - with the exception of the almost rainless summer months - distributed over the whole year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2019
Residents	424	494	589	120	51

Due to the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting loss of jobs in the countryside, the number of inhabitants in the municipality has declined sharply since the middle of the 20th century ( rural exodus ).

economy

For centuries the town's economy was largely self-sufficient ; Surplus cheese and sausages as well as animal skins and wool could be sold to traveling traders or exchanged for other products. The situation only improved in the 1930s.

history

There is no evidence of settlement in the Celtic , Roman or Visigothic periods. During the Caliphate (929-1031) it was part of the Cora de Santaver sub-area . Probably the place and its surroundings were already in the context of the conquest of Toledo in the late 11th century by the troops of Alfonso VI. taken. After the reconquest ( reconquista ) of the city of Cuenca (around 1177) and its surroundings by the troops of the Castilian king Alfonso VIII , a policy of repopulation ( repoblación ) by Christians from all parts of the Iberian Peninsula was pursued.

Attractions

• The small of factory and quarry stones erected late Romanesque - early Gothic Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion is Assumption consecrated and one of the oldest surviving churches of the province of Cuenca. The stepped portal , covered by several profiled archivolts , is slightly pointed at the top; A three-part bell gable (espadaña) rises above the otherwise unadorned west facade . The nave (nave) leads towards a classicist altarpiece (retablo) of the 19th century.
• Parts of the former fortifications can still be seen.

Web links

Commons : Alcantud  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ↑ Alcantud - population development
3. ↑ Alcantud Church