Village
Municipality of the comarca of Campo de Calatrava, in the province of Ciudad Real, dominated by the castle of Doña Berenguela, a fortress of Andalusi origin of the tenth and eleventh centuries built in basalt, limestone, brick and gypsum which Queen Berengaria handed over in 1229 to the Order of Calatrava to establish a commandery there. It preserves the church of San Felipe y Santiago, of the transition from Gothic to Renaissance, and the shrine of Nuestra Señora del Monte, made up of two chapels; its Holy Week, with the singular company of armaos, is declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest.
Monument
Fortress of Andalusi origin from the 10th and 11th centuries built in basalt, limestone, brick and plaster, with a keep with twin windows and a dungeon. After the Reconquista, in 1229 Berenguela of Castile donated it to the Order of Calatrava, which in 1537 created the commandery of Bolaños there; in 1373 it is cited as a possible residence of the Order's master, and in 1520 it was repaired to face the Comuneros' uprising. A 2003 excavation uncovered a defensive moat that surrounded the walls. Restored by the Ciudad Real Provincial Council in 1982, it now hosts cultural events and can be visited for one euro.
Monument
A church transitional between Gothic and Renaissance styles, with a single nave and a polygonal chancel, covered with star vaults in each bay delimited by transverse arches, and with a 16th-century baptismal font bearing the town's coat of arms. It was built in the 16th century and was fitted with a Baroque main altarpiece from the 17th century and an organ from the 18th, both lost in the Civil War, when the building served as barracks and stables; it was reconsecrated in 1939. In 2003 several burial levels were found inside the nave.
Monument
The Sanctuary of Our Lady del Monte, in Bolaños de Calatrava (Campo de Calatrava, Ciudad Real), brings together two hermitages dedicated to the town's patroness. The Old Hermitage was built in the 13th century after the Christian advance of the Reconquista, probably by the Order of Calatrava over Visigothic remains, and was enlarged with a nave in the 15th century; it combines walls of Romanesque tradition with Mudejar brick and plaster, and preserves a presbytery with a groin vault and a medallion bearing the cross of Calatrava. The Great Hermitage, with a single nave and polygonal chancel, was begun by the town itself in 1904, to a design by Juan Ramón Naranjo. The complex holds one of the most important collections of ex-votos in Castile-La Mancha and holds its pilgrimage on the last Sunday of April.
Activity
Holy Week celebrated between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, with the parade of the six brotherhoods and the five music bands of the municipality. It was declared Fiesta de Interés Turístico Regional (a regional tourist-interest festival designation) in 2007, together with the rest of the Holy Weeks of the Campo de Calatrava, integrated into the Ruta de la Pasión Calatrava, and Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional (Spain's national tourist-interest festival designation) in 2016. Its most singular element is the company of the Armaos, of the Santísimo Cristo del Sepulcro Brotherhood, which represents the Passion chronologically: the Arrest on Holy Thursday, the reading of the sentence in the Procesión del Paso, and the Holy Burial on the night of Good Friday. Of Castilian processional tradition, it has incorporated elements of the Andalusian model since the late 20th century.
Activity
The Día de la Pañolá of Bolaños de Calatrava (Ciudad Real) commemorates the murder of more than twenty people, including municipal authorities, at the hands of Carlist guerrillas on 3 February 1837. Since 1838 the festival has been celebrated on 4 February, moving the feast of San Blas to that day. The Brotherhood of the Souls raised alms by auctioning local produce in the square, and the local Bolaños custom of filling a handkerchief with garrapiñadas, toasted almonds and nougats and giving it away gave the festival its name, also known as the Almendrillas.
Activity
The pilgrimage takes the people of Bolaños de Calatrava to the sanctuary of their patroness, a group of hermitages located in the former Dehesa de la Moheda, land that belonged to the Order of Calatrava. The oldest hermitage in the precinct was built in the 13th century, after the Christian advance that culminated in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, probably over Visigothic remains; its vault still bears the painted crosses of the military orders of Montesa, San Juan and Santiago, and in a niche of the old presbytery the image of Our Lady del Monte is venerated. Next to it, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, a second, larger hermitage was added. There, since time immemorial, the popular pilgrimage has been held, with its shared calderetas.
Curiosity
Local tradition holds that King Fernando III was born in the castle of Doña Berenguela, although other sources place his birth at the monastery of Valparaíso, in the province of Zamora.
Historical milestone
Queen Berenguela, mother of Ferdinand III, handed the castle of Bolaños to the Order of Calatrava in 1229, which established a commandery there; the fortress has since kept the popular name of the castle of Doña Berenguela.