Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Mancha, in the province of Ciudad Real, the old head of the Grand Priory of Saint John, transformed from 1858 onwards, when Isabella II inaugurated the Madrid to Alicante line as she passed through: the later crossing with the route towards Andalusia made its station one of the largest railway junctions in Spain and contributed to the title of city that Alfonso XII granted it in 1877. It preserves the convent of Santa Clara, founded in 1546 and to whose nuns the recipe for the tortas de Alcázar is attributed, and the church of San Francisco, raised around 1532; a baptismal entry of 1558 has long fed the dispute over Cervantes's birthplace.
Monument
The Torreón del Gran Prior is a fortified tower at number 6 calle de Don Quijote, in Alcázar de San Juan, which formed part of the palatial complex of the Grand Prior of the Order of Saint John. It is an Almohad tower of square plan, built in the 13th century, with three storeys reached by a spiral staircase. On 30 November 1990 it was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) with the rank of monument, by royal decree published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 4 December of that same year. It is today the monumental symbol of Alcázar de San Juan.
Monument
The church of Santa María la Mayor is the oldest Catholic temple in Alcázar de San Juan and was a collegiate church between the 13th and 19th centuries, until it lost that status in 1835 with Mendizábal's disentailment; its parish records preserve the 1558 entry that fuels the debate over whether Cervantes was baptised here. Built on a site that had held an Iberian temple, a Roman one, a Visigothic church and an Andalusi mosque, it retains from its medieval origins the Mudéjar chancel and Romanesque apse, to which a Renaissance renovation was added and, in 1742, the Baroque altar and rococo camarín of Our Lady of the Rosary, with plasterwork and Talavera tiles. With three naves, the main altarpiece is an 1595 work by Diego Barroso, with canvases by his brother Miguel and paintings by Sánchez Cotán.
Nature
A wetland of high natural value made up of the lagoons of La Veguilla, Camino de Villafranca and Las Yeguas, part of the Mancha Húmeda Biosphere Reserve.
Monument
The Casa del Hidalgo stands on calle del Cautivo in Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real) and today functions as a museum and interpretation centre devoted to the way of life of the hidalgos of La Mancha, the social class to which don Quixote belonged. The building, formerly called Casa del Rey for having been the residence of the governor of the Real Fábrica de Pólvora since the 16th century, resulted from the joining of two houses and retains the courtyard-house type typical of the area. Its street entrance stands out, with a large lintelled and balconied doorway from the late 17th or early 18th century, as well as wooden ceilings with artesonado work of Mudéjar ancestry.
Activity
The Moors and Christians of Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real) are celebrated in June, coinciding with the feast of San Juan Bautista, the patron saint who gives the town its name. The festival, declared of Interés Turístico Regional (regional tourist interest), follows the Levantine model of moors and christians, the same one shared by other towns in the region influenced by the Valencian tradition, and fills the streets of Alcázar de San Juan with parades and embassies.
Activity
The carnival of Alcázar de San Juan is celebrated between 26 and 28 December, an unusual date that makes it the last carnival of the year in Spain and sets it apart from any other Spanish carnival. In 2018 it was declared Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional (a festival of national tourist interest).
Activity
Fair and patronal festival of Alcázar de San Juan (La Mancha, Ciudad Real), of agricultural and livestock roots, with cultural and bullfighting activities. It is held from 2 to 8 September in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, patron saint of the city, whose main day is the 8th, just before the grape harvest. During these days, local peñas and cultural groups organise different traditional meals each day, and the bullfighting events are held at the municipal bullring, built in the 20th century.
Curiosity
A baptismal entry of 1558 preserved in Alcázar de San Juan records a son of Blas Cervantes Saavedra, a document that has fuelled the dispute over Miguel de Cervantes's birthplace for centuries.
Historical milestone
On 24 May 1858 Isabel II inaugurated, as she passed through Alcázar, the line from Madrid to Alicante. The later crossing with the route towards Andalusia turned the station into one of the largest railway junctions in Spain and reoriented the local economy.
Monument
Raised around 1532 as a Franciscan conventual church, it preserves traces of the Gothic transition to the Renaissance. After the disentailment of the nineteenth century it ceased to be used for worship and did not reopen until 1899, by then turned into a parish church.
Historical milestone
Founded in 1546 by Poor Clare nuns, it occupied for centuries an entire block of the old town. To the community is attributed the recipe for the tortas of Alcázar. Rehabilitated in recent times, the complex today functions as a hotel establishment.
Historical milestone
Alfonso XII granted Alcázar de San Juan the title of city in 1877, at the height of the railway and of the wine trade. The former head of the Grand Priory of Saint John had multiplied its population in barely two decades.
Food and drink
Round, spongy sweet, of soft crumb and white crust, whose recipe tradition attributes to the Poor Clares of the convent of Santa Clara. It is made with egg, sugar and almond and is sold all year round in the confectioners of the city.