Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in Jorquera

What to see and do in Jorquera (La Manchuela, Albacete): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones

When to go to Jorquera: festival calendar

May: Festivities of Mayo de Jorquera (Del 21 al 23 de mayo)
August: San Roque in Jorquera (August 16)

How far each place is from the centre of Jorquera

Church of la Asunción de Jorquera 100 m

Towns near Jorquera

What to see in La Recueja 2.6 km · 5 places
What to see in Abengibre 4.4 km · 5 places
What to see in Villavaliente 7.8 km · 6 places
What to see in Alcalá del Júcar 8.2 km · 14 places
What to see in Casas de Juan Núñez 8.7 km · 7 places
What to see in Fuentealbilla 10 km · 7 places
What to see in Pozo-Lorente 11 km · 4 places
What to see in Golosalvo 12 km · 6 places

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Albacete › La Manchuela › Jorquera

What to see and do in Jorquera

Jorquera
Village
Jorquera, called Jorguera until 1857, is a municipality in the comarca of La Manchuela (Albacete) comprising the hamlets of Alcozarejos, Calzada de Vergara, Cubas and Maldonado, and situated on the natural peninsula formed by a pronounced meander of the Júcar between cliffs up to two hundred metres high. It reached great splendour in the Muslim period, and according to tradition El Cid Campeador stayed at its castle on his way to Valencia; in 1266 Alfonso X separated it from the jurisdiction of Cuenca to make it the seat of the Comunidad de Villa y Tierra de Jorquera, which came to dominate almost all of the Manchuela of Albacete. It preserves the 12th-century Almohad walled enclosure, declared a conjunto histórico-artístico (historic-artistic site) in 1979, its two access gates and the restored Torre de Doña Blanca.
Almohad walls of Jorquera
Monument
12th-century walled enclosure ringing the upper part of the hill on which the town stands. It has been a historic-artistic site since 21 December 1979.
Puerta de la Villa and Puerta Nueva gates
Monument
The two defensive gateways that gave access to the fortified enclosure of Jorquera, beside which stands the restored Torre de Doña Blanca, now used for cultural exhibitions.
Church of la Asunción de Jorquera
Monument
The church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Jorquera, on calle Mayor in the town, has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 22 December 1992 and belongs to the Diocese of Albacete, within the archpriesthood of La Manchuela. The building dates from the 16th century and follows the transitional style from Gothic to Renaissance, with a single four-bay nave covered by a ribbed vault and an octagonal chancel. Its construction is believed to have begun around 1577, probably the work of Basque stonemasons connected with the church of San Juan Bautista in Albacete. Inside, the Maldonado chapel stands out, with access to the crypt where the remains of Juan Antonio Maldonado Albarracín rest — a native of Jorquera and viceroy of Calabria by appointment of Philip V — along with a 16th-century processional cross.
Meander of the Júcar at Jorquera
Nature
Here the Júcar traces a pronounced meander surrounded by cliffs up to two hundred metres high, leaving the town on a natural peninsula that was easy to defend.
Festivities of Mayo de Jorquera
Activity
Patronal festivities held on 21, 22 and 23 May in honour of the Virgen de Cubas. They begin a month earlier with the Virgin's entrance in pilgrimage from her hermitage, in the hamlet of Cubas, to the church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Jorquera, where she receives worship until 22 May. On that day she returns in pilgrimage to the hermitage, and the Moors and Christians displays that close the celebration take place.
San Roque in Jorquera
Activity
On 16 August, the feast day of San Roque, Jorquera holds the traditional raffle for the benefit of the church with the gifts contributed by residents: oversized fruit, craft work and domestic animals. It is one of the most notable summer dates on the local calendar.
The town that lost its region
Curiosity
For centuries Jorquera was the head of the seigneurial state that dominated much of La Manchuela. It broke away from the jurisdiction of Cuenca in 1266 and came to have more than three thousand inhabitants, compared with the little over three hundred it has today.
La reconquista de Jorquera por Alfonso VIII
Historical milestone
Alfonso VIII took from the Almohads the fortified crag in the meander of the Júcar in a swift raid of 1211; the stronghold lost and recovered, Castilian control was secured after Las Navas de Tolosa and the town was governed by the fuero of Cuenca.
El Estado de Jorquera de los Pacheco
Historical milestone
In the division of the marquisate of Villena of 1480, the Catholic Monarchs left in the hands of the Pachecos the town of Jorquera, which remained the seigneurial head of the so-called Estado de Jorquera, with a good ten hamlets under its jurisdiction until the nineteenth century.