Santa Cruz de Mudela

Santa Cruz de Mudela parish
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción , 16th century.
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile-La Mancha
Province :	Ciudad Real
Comarca :	Campo de Calatrava
Coordinates	38 ° 39 ′  N , 3 ° 28 ′  W Coordinates: 38 ° 39 ′  N , 3 ° 28 ′  W
Height :	732  msnm
Area :	134.6 km²
Residents :	4,107 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	30.51 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	13730
Municipality number  ( INE ):	13077
administration
Official language :	Castilian
Mayoress :	Gema García Mayordomo ( PSOE )
Website :	ayuntamiento.stacruzmudela.org
Location of the municipality
España

Santa Cruz de Mudela is a Spanish municipality in the province of Ciudad Real in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha . The citizens are called Santacruceñas or Santacruceños, alternatively also Churriegas or Churriegos.

geography

The municipality is located at the southeast end of the Campo de Calatrava. Its topography is determined by the La Mancha plain. In the south and southeast, the Sierra Acebuche and the Sierra Aljibe , both foothills of the Sierra Morena , border the municipal area. It is located in the catchment area of ​​the Río Jabalón , a tributary of the Río Guadiana . The Rambla de Santa Cruz flows through the municipality as a seasonal watercourse and flows into the Río Jabalón.

Cold winters and hot summers with little rainfall are characteristic of the Mediterranean-continental climate.

history

House on Calle Santiago

Creation of Santa Cruz de Mudela

Several finds from the second millennium BC, from the Bronze Age El Argar culture , were discovered in the northern municipality and in the fertile plain of the Río Jabalón. From the 7th to the 2nd century BC, the area was an important settlement area for the Iberians , as the Cerro de las Cabezas site shows. After that, the region was under the rule of the Roman Empire . The Romans left the cultivation of grapevines as a cultural heritage . The Visigoths followed the Romans .

After the Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula at the beginning of the 8th century, the city lost part of its economic influence because the Arabs did not use the vine intensively. Instead, it served as a grain store in the southern part of the Taifa Kingdom of Toledo .

In 1212, after the Reconquista by the Castilian King Alfons VIII Alfonso VIII of Castile and the Order of Calatrava , settlers began to settle opposite the Camillian monastery of the Padres Agonizantes . At this place, where the Guardia Civil barracks are now , the present-day population center was formed. The name La Santa Cruz de Mudela comes from the first half of the 13th century. Different versions mix historical dates, tradition and legend. Oral tradition ascribes the name to the triumph of the Christian symbol in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa . More reliable sources suggest that it was a crossroads in the area called Dehesa de Mudela . In the 13th century the Encomienda de Mudela was built on this grassland. The church was built within its borders and its neighborhood. In 1462 the Encomienda was expanded to include the El Viso settlement . Until the conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs , it belonged to the Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava. After that it passed into the direct possession of the Spanish crown.

The Marqueses de Santa Cruz

On January 30, 1538, Álvaro the Elder bought the parishes of Santa Cruz de Mudela and Viso del Puerto with their rights and jurisdiction for 26,208,626 Maravedí from King Charles I of Spain . Later, his son Álvaro de Bazán , the first Marquis of Santa Cruz, built the castle and monastery of the Capuchins .

The War of Independence and the Battle of Ocaña

In the Spanish War of Independence , the Napoleonic troops suffered a defeat on June 5, 1808 against the guerrillas of Santa Cruz de Mudela. 109 French were killed and 113 of a total of 700 French soldiers captured.

Santa Cruz de Mudela served in November 1808 as the base of the headquarters where the Spanish army of La Mancha, under the command of General Francisco de Eguía, prepared the battle of Ocaña .

politics

Mayor since 1965:

• 1965 Carlos Dotor Navarro ( UCD )
• 1979 Juan Bustos (UCD)
• 1979 Juan Valverde Pérez (UCD) (after the resignation of Juan Bustos)
• 1983 Antonio Cobos ( PSOE )
• 1987 Antonio Cobos (PSOE)
• 1989 José Antonio López Aranda (PSOE) (by motion of no confidence )
• 1991 José Antonio López Aranda (PSOE)
• 1995 José Antonio López Aranda (PSOE)
• 1999 José Antonio López Aranda (PSOE)
• 2003 José Antonio López Aranda (PSOE)
• 2007 Manuel Saéz Laguna (PVISCM)
• 2011 José Luis Fuentes Gavilán (Pact PSOE- PP )
• 2013 Mariano Chicharro Muela (Pacto PP-PSOE)
• 2015 Mariano Chicharro Muela (Pacto PP-PSOE)
• 2017 Gema García Mayordomo (PSOE) (by motion of no confidence)

Cultural heritage

• Plaza de Toros de las Virtudes and Santuario de Nuestra Señora de las Virtudes : By Royal Decree No. 1443/1981 of April 24, 1981, the squarebullringand the monastery wereprotectedasMonumento Histórico Artístico. The pillars under the arena's northern gallery date from the Visigothic period. At the gate calledCasa de la Despensa, thelintel bearsthe year 1641. This makes this arena the oldest preserved square bullring.
• Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción : The church was built in the 16th century in late gothic built style. The three-aisled building has an asymmetrical floor plan and a polygonal roof. The steeple is on the northeast corner. Some elements, including the main portal with its round arch supported by pilasters , point to the early Renaissance . On both sides of the portal there is a niche with a shrine , above each a column. The side portals are designed similarly.
• Chapel of Santa María la Mayor : This simple single-nave chapel in the center of the village was the first parish church in the area. The original retable has been preserved. The chapel of Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia is adjacent . Stucco reliefs in its dome depict scenes from the Passion of Christ. The church's patron saint, Christ the Merciful, is depicted in a fresco. The chapel served as a place of worship for the old hospital.
• San José Chapel : This neo-Gothic stylechapelwas built in 1917–1918 and consecrated in 1919. The large-format picture of its patron Saint Joseph , painted by Rafael García Irurozqui, was destroyed in the Spanish civil war. In one of the entrances is the coat of arms of John Baptist de La Salle and a ceramic retable that the local populationdedicated tothe city's patroness Nuestra Señora de las Virtudes . The half-destroyed Colegio de la Salle is adjacent to the chapel.
• Evangelical Church : Evangelical services have been celebrated in the village since 1923. Missionaries from Valdepeñas preached the gospel in the homes of the faithful. In 1924 the congregation moved into a room at Calle Gloria 4. The founder of the evangelical mission in Spain, the Englishman Percy Buffard, led the first service. At the end of 1931 they moved into the current building on Calle. In the civil war of 1936 the church was closed; the building was rededicated as an infirmary. Since 1946 it has been used as a church again. Since then, services have been held there on Wednesdays and Sundays.
• Chapel San Roque : The chapel is located on a hill in the northwest. From there you have a view of the whole place. The chapel was destroyed in the Spanish War of Independence and rebuilt in 1834. According to tradition, it served as a refuge during the plague epidemic that hit the region in the 19th century. To avert them, services were held in honor of San Roque . According to popular belief, they caused the epidemic to end. At the initiative of the residents of the neighborhood, further restorations took place at the end of the 20th century. Since then, a service has been held in the chapel every year on August 16, the day of San Roque, at 7:00 a.m. At sunset at 9:00 p.m., people meet again in the chapel to pray and get basil and pumpkin.
• Convent and school of the Concepcionistas Misioneras de la Enseñanza : The building in the historicist style houses a richly designed coffered ceiling and a vaulted ceiling with Baroque painting .

Festivals

• January 20th. San Sebastian . Celebration around the Chapel of San Sebastián .
• 3 February. San Blas. Celebration around the missing chapel of Saint Mark , Saint Jacob , Anna , Jesus and Saint Blasius .
• Holy Week ( Semana Santa ). Four religious brotherhoods each carry out an elaborately designed procession.
• 26th of April. San Marcos. Celebration at the Nuestra Señora de las Virtudes chapel and traditional blessing of the fields.
• Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi) . Various streets in the village are decorated with canopies and carpets made of sawdust and salt. Local residents set up altars outdoors.
• Second week in August . City festival with performances at the city fair and attractions for children and adults.
• August 16. San Roque . See above.
• September 1st to 8th. Festival in honor of the city's patroness Nuestra Señora de las Virtudes . Suspension of the holy of holies , rosary and weekly prayers . On September 7th, a solemn procession with a statue of the Virgin Mary from the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción to the Plaza de la Constitución, where the Blessed Virgin symbolically says goodbye to the Town Hall. After a mass at dawn on September 8th, a procession with a statue of the Virgin Mary goes to a small chapel on the Humilladero hill . There singing and dancing participants Jotas and Seguidillas . The Blessed Virgin says goodbye to the congregation until next year, and the procession continues to the bullring. A solemn mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin is held at 12:00 p.m., attended by representatives of the local authorities.

Personalities

• Máximo Laguna y Villanueva (1826-1902), forest engineer and professor of botany.

References and comments

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. ↑ Independent voters: Plataforma vecinal independiente Santa Cruz de Mudela, see website of the electoral association
3. ↑ Virtues
4. ^ Religiosas Concepcionistas Misioneras de la Enseñanza. Website of the religious community. Retrieved December 25, 2018 (Spanish). 

Web links

• Local government website