Village
Municipality of the comarca of Sierra del Segura, in the province of Albacete, where the river Mundo rises at Los Chorros, a spring that plunges in a waterfall of some eighty metres over an amphitheatre of travertine and which in times of rain or thaw multiplies its flow in the phenomenon known as the reventón. In its district the Reales Fábricas de San Juan de Alcaraz were founded in 1772, under Charles III, the first brass and bronze factory in Spain, active until 1993 and around which a workers' settlement grew; bronze craftsmanship survives in workshops in the municipality.
Monument
A factory complex founded in 1772 under Carlos III by the Austrian engineer Juan Jorge Graubner. It was the first brass and bronze factory in Spain and the second in Europe after the one at Goslar, and it remained in operation until 1993, using the calamine and copper of the area.
Monument
The original settlement of the municipality, perched on a hill and largely abandoned when the population moved down beside the Reales Fábricas. It preserves its traditional layout, the church and the remains of the castle.
Monument
The remains of the castle of Riópar Viejo crown a hill about 3 kilometres northwest of present-day Riópar (Albacete), at an altitude of around 1,100 metres, on the site of the old village. It is a fortress of Muslim origin which later belonged to the Count of Paredes, lord of the town. Of the complex only ruins remain, in the setting of the deserted medieval village, which in recent years has been the subject of restoration work.
Monument
The parish church of the Holy Spirit is located in Riópar Viejo, a hamlet of Riópar (Albacete), and has been listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1981. Although there is no documentation proving its existence before the mid-15th century, it is known to have already been built by 1475, when loopholes were opened in its walls to fire on the Alcázar. Rectangular in plan and of modest size, with five bays and a flat east end, its nave is covered with a wooden framework decorated with Mudéjar paintings, and it holds a wooden choir supported by a single column. During restoration work, important Gothic frescoes hidden behind the altar were discovered, now recreated in the exhibition "Las Edades de Riópar".
Nature
Source of the río Mundo, where the water emerges from the mouth of a cave and plunges in a waterfall of about eighty metres over an amphitheatre of travertine; the phenomenon, uncommon in karst caves, is known locally as "el reventón", and with the rains or the snowmelt it forms true explosions of water and light. It is the most visited spot in the Calares del Mundo y de la Sima Natural Park, whose valley is carpeted with pino negral and pino laricio pines, along with Pyrenean oaks, holm oaks, rowans and Granada maples, a species endemic to southern Spain that turns red in autumn; the area holds 51 Iberian endemic species and 25 Ibero-African ones.
Nature
A karst system with more than fifty kilometres of galleries explored, one of the largest on the Iberian Peninsula. From its mouth flow the waters that give rise to the River Mundo.
Nature
A limestone plateau some fifteen kilometres long by four wide that acts like a sponge: it filters the rain and snow and channels them through underground galleries to the Cueva de los Chorros.
Curiosity
Phenomenon that occurs at the source of the río Mundo, very close to Riópar (Albacete), within the Calares del Río Mundo y de la Sima Natural Park, one of the five natural parks of Castilla-La Mancha. It consists of the sudden release of a large quantity of water, an uncommon occurrence found only in very few caves of karstic origin. During periods of heavy rain or after the melting of snow accumulated in winter, the Chorros spring expels far more water than its aquifer has received, forming spectacular waterfalls -true explosions of water and light known locally as "el reventón"- a phenomenon caused by the action of normal and inverse siphons inside the karst.
Curiosity
Riópar was one of Spain's first industrial colonies: the Reales Fábricas drew in technicians from Central Europe and created a workers' village beside the factory. The tradition of handmade bronze lives on today in workshops in the municipality.
Activity
Celebrations in honour of the patron saint of Riópar, which come in addition to those of Saint John the Baptist, the town's patron, and to the festivals of the outlying villages of the municipal district.
Historical milestone
The first brass and bronze factory in Spain, born in the eighteenth century under the protection of Charles III and of the calamine of the sierra, ceased its activity in 1993 after more than two centuries of smoke; the village turned to tourism and to bronze craftwork.
Food and drink
The cold waters that rise at Los Chorros maintain trout populations that the sierra cooking prepares in escabeche or stuffed with ham and fried. It is one of the few river dishes of a comarca dominated by meat and game.