Valdeolivas

Valdeolivas municipality
Valdeolivas - Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción
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Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile-La Mancha
Province :	Cuenca
Comarca :	Alcarria conquense
Coordinates	40 ° 30 ′  N , 2 ° 27 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 30 ′  N , 2 ° 27 ′  W
Height :	925  msnm
Area :	46.05 km²
Residents :	202 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.39 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	16813
Municipality number  ( INE ):	16228
administration
Website :	Valdeolivas

Apse fresco with Pantocrator (around 1320)

Valdeolivas is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with a total of only 202 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the north of the province of Cuenca in the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha . Valdeolivas was on the Ruta de la Lana , a once important trade and pilgrimage route that led from Alicante to Burgos . Today the municipality belongs to the sparsely populated region of the Serranía Celtibérica .

Location and climate

The place Valdeolivas is located on the west side of the Iberian Mountains at an altitude of 925  m . The provincial capital Cuenca is a good 66 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. 425 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	1,371	1,199	1,251	289	202

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

economy

Also because of the altitude of the place, the economy for centuries was essentially based on self-sufficiency ; urban markets were too far away. Agriculture was only possible to a very limited extent in the mountainous and rocky landscape; Therefore, the focus was primarily on livestock farming , the long-term products of which (cheese, meat, wool and animal skins) were sometimes bought up by traveling traders and traded on.

history

Not much is known about the history of the place; Iberian , Roman , Visigoth and even Islamic-Moorish finds were not made. One must therefore assume that the high-lying area was not populated until around the year 1000 and only served as a summer pasture. The situation changed after the reconquest ( reconquista ) of the city of Cuenca and its surrounding region by the troops of Alfonso VIII. Of Castile in 1177. A few decades was later the Romanesque church of the place, the giant in the first half of the 14th century to Manorial rule (señorio) of the Infante Juan Manuel († 1348) belonged. This was integrated into the Duchy of El Infantado by the Catholic Kings about 150 years later .

Attractions

• The townscape with its old, mostly plastered stone houses is definitely worth seeing.
• The most important attraction of the place is the late Romanesque - early Gothic Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción , whose huge bell tower (campanario) was built on a square floor plan. While the lower floors of the tower are closed, the three upper floors open on all sides through double arcades . The interior of the church has a single nave and is covered by a pointed barrel vault . In the apse calotte there is a restored fresco from the early 14th century depicting Christ as Pantocrator in a mandorla on a rainbow throne and surrounded by the 4 evangelist symbols .

Web links

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

• Valdeolivas, tourism site - photos + information (Spanish)

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. ↑ Valdeolivas / Trillo - climate tables
3. ↑ Valdeolivas - population development