Heritage: hermitages, bridges and abandoned villages of the Serranía de Cuenca

Churches of the resettlement

After the conquest of Cuenca in 1177, the surrounding villages filled with small, solid churches. The Romanesque route through the Campichuelo links them: San Pedro in Mariana, La Asunción in Torrecilla, standing alone on its hill, Santo Domingo in Pajares, with its Nativity altarpiece, Sotos and its carved figurative capitals, the church of Zarzuela or the late Romanesque church in Arcos de la Sierra.

It is a late Romanesque style: building continued this way in the province through much of the 13th century, when Gothic work was already rising in Cuenca cathedral, with slightly pointed arches under Cistercian influence. These were works of frontier communities with few resources, using nearby stone and simple methods. The guide Cuenca. Todo el románico (2023), by José Arturo Salgado Pantoja, brings together 182 examples in 128 places across the province, not only churches: also remains in abandoned villages, bridges, towers, castles and walls, such as the Christian phases at Cañete or Moya.

Towns and historic ensembles

Cañete, a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain’s highest heritage listing) since 1996, preserves walls, an arcaded square and the Arco de la Sinagoga. Poyatos, a historic ensemble (Conjunto Histórico) since 2001, is entered through the Arco del Concejo. Moya is the extreme case: a walled town that headed a marquisate and is now empty.

Bridges, hermitages and abandoned villages

Tragacete preserves a single-arched bridge over the Júcar; Priego, the Puente de Allende, and the Escabas, the Puente Barbazoso, of medieval origin. There are pilgrimage hermitages such as that of the Virgen de la Horcajada, and villages left empty or underwater, such as El Cubillo or Fuencaliente: the history of depopulation is told in memory.