Buendía (Cuenca)

Buendía municipality
	Buendía - rest of the city walls
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile-La Mancha
Province :	Cuenca
Comarca :	La Alcarria
Coordinates	40 ° 22 ′ N , 2 ° 45 ′ W Coordinates: 40 ° 22 ′ N , 2 ° 45 ′ W
Height :	690 msnm
Area :	88.5 km²
Residents :	400 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.52 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	16512
Municipality number ( INE ):	16041
administration
Website :	Buendía

Buendía is a place and a central Spanish municipality ( municipio ) with only 400 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the north of the province of Cuenca in the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha . Buendía is part of the cultural landscape of the Alcarria and the Serranía Celtibérica, which is affected by ongoing population decline .

Location and climate

The place Buendía is on the west side of the Iberian Mountains at an altitude of approx. 690 m . The nearby Buendía reservoir was named after the place. The provincial capital Cuenca is a good 80 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. 490 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	1,586	1,423	1,890	491	400

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.

history

There is no evidence of settlement in the Celtic , Roman or Visigothic periods. During the Caliphate (929-1031) the area belonged to the Cora de Santaver sub-area . The place and its surroundings even during the reconquest probably were ( reconquista ) of Toledo in the late 11th century by the troops of Alfonso VI. taken. Perhaps already at this time, but at the latest after the reconquest of the city of Cuenca (around 1177), a policy of repopulation ( repoblación ) by Christians from all parts of the Iberian Peninsula began .

Attractions

The place has a medieval appearance in parts. The center is the Plaza de los dos plazas with the arcaded town hall (ayuntamiento) .
The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción , an imposing three-aisled hall church from the 16th century with star vaults, can be entered through the north portal .
In the Casa Tercia , a former granary (posito) , there is a carriage museum .

Surroundings

A circular hiking trail ( Ruta de las Caras ) leads past around 20 heads and other monuments carved into the rock by various artists to the Buendía reservoir.