Cifuentes (Guadalajara)

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Cifuentes municipality
Cifuentes - View of the town with the two main churches
Cifuentes - View of the town with the two main churches
coat of arms Map of Spain
Coat of arms of Cifuentes
Cifuentes (Guadalajara) (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Castile-La Mancha
Province : Guadalajara
Comarca : La Alcarria y Río Tajo
Coordinates 40 ° 47 ′  N , 2 ° 37 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 47 ′  N , 2 ° 37 ′  W.
Height : 894  msnm
Area : 219.95 km²
Residents : 1,645 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density : 7.48 inhabitants / km²
Founding: 1290
Postal code : 19420
Municipality number  ( INE ): 19086
administration
Website : Cifuentes

Cifuentes ( cifuentes = "hundred springs") is a central Spanish place and a municipality ( municipio ) consisting of several villages, hamlets and farmsteads with a total of 1,645 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the province of Guadalajara in the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha . The municipality belongs to the sparsely populated region of the Serranía Celtibérica .

Location and climate

The village of Cifuentes, which is almost 900  m high, is located on the west side of the Iberian Mountains in the headwaters of numerous streams from which the Río Cifuentes , a tributary of the Tagus , is formed. The provincial capital Guadalajara is approx. 68 km (driving distance) in a south-westerly direction. The climate in winter is temperate, while in summer it is warm to hot; the rather low amounts of precipitation (approx. 455 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 1,604 1,676 1,644 2,195 1,645

Due to the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting loss of jobs, the population of the community would have declined sharply since the middle of the 19th century ( rural exodus ), if it weren't for several villages (pueblos or aldeas) in the 1960s and 1970s. and hamlets (pedanías) have been incorporated: Gárgoles de Abajo , Gualda , Moranchel , Carrascosa de Tajo , Gárgoles de Arriba , Huetos , Oter , Ruguilla , Sotoca de Tajo and Val de San García .

economy

Due to the altitude of the community, farming was only possible to a very limited extent. The main focus was therefore on livestock farming , the long-term products of which (cheese, meat and wool) could be exchanged for grain in the valleys or sold in the city markets. The Camino de Santiago de la Lana , a medieval trade and pilgrimage route, passed the town of Cifuentes . In the 18th century the city developed into a trading center for agriculture and livestock. At the end of the 20th century, the Trillo nuclear power plant was built nearby.

history

The origin of the place can probably be traced back to the time of the Reconquista des Taifa de Toledo at the end of the 11th century. In the 12th century the basin of the Río Cifuentes was conquered and the seat of the archbishop was established in Cifuentes. Don Juan Manuel married his cousin Blanca Núñez de Lara in 1329 , thereby acquiring the diocese and building a castle on a hill in the southeast of the municipios , which established the direct imperial manor (señorio) of Cifuentes. The villages were called Judíos , as a high proportion of converted New Christians ( Marranos ) lived here.

In 1431 Henry IV of Castile gave the fiefdom of Cifuentes to Juan de Silva y Meneses, a Castilian diplomat at the Holy See who became the first Count of Cifuentes (Conde de Cifuentes) in 1456 . The Spanish crown regularly awarded the office of mayor (Alcalde Mayor) of Toledo to the Counts of Cifuentes . The fifth Conde de Cifuentes was Juan III. de Silva , a diplomat from Charles V to the Holy See.

The 13th Conde de Cifuentes , Fernando de Meneses Silva, 3rd Marquês de Alconchel (* 1663) refused allegiance to the Bourbons , which is why they had his palace demolished, which he had built on the Plaza Mayor.

Attractions

Iglesia de San Salvador
  • The castle (castillo) , built from 1324 on the site of a Moorish fortress (alcazaba or kasbah) on an almost square floor plan, dominates the townscape. The keep (torre del homenaje) standing a little in front of the castle has a pentagonal floor plan.
  • The Iglesia de San Salvador still has a late Romanesque stepped portal, some of which is decorated with figures . The rest of the church clearly shows Gothic features. Inside there is a richly carved alabaster - Pulpit (pulpito) .
  • The hospital built in the 15th century has largely disappeared. However, the chapel (Ermita del Remedio) has been preserved , the portal of which presents a dominant keel arch .
  • Some ruined parts of the medieval city wall still stand.
  • A number of chapels, churches, convents and old houses enrich the townscape.
  • The Casa de los Gallos , a city palace from the 16th century, now serves as a restaurant.

Festivals

  • The patron saint feast of Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia (Holy Christ of Mercy) is celebrated on September 14th.
  • At this time there is also a cattle drive .

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Cifuentes  - 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. ↑ Cifuentes - climate tables
  3. ↑ Cifuentes - Population Development
  4. ↑ https://www.castillosnet.org/espana/informacion.php?ref=GU-CAS-024 Cifuentes - Castle
  5. ↑ Cifuentes - Ruins of the city wall