Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Mancha, in the province of Ciudad Real, some ten kilometres from the Tablas de Daimiel National Park, a wetland formed by the overflowing of the Guadiana and the Azuer, included in the Ramsar Convention and one of the last examples of the river-flat ecosystem. In its district is also the Motilla del Azuer, a Bronze Age site occupied from around 2450 BC and with one of the oldest wells on the Peninsula; its historic centre is arranged around the Plaza de España, of sixteenth-century layout, and the town received the title of city in 1887, a few years after Alfonso XII visited the Tablas to shoot duck.
Nature
Wetland formed at the confluence of the Guadiana and its tributary the Cigüela, in the municipalities of Daimiel and Villarrubia de los Ojos, about ten kilometres from Daimiel; protected as a national park and Special Protection Area (ZEPA), and included in the Ramsar Convention and the La Mancha Húmeda Biosphere Reserve. It is one of the last examples of the tablas fluviales ecosystem, which forms when rivers overflow along their middle stretches due to a lack of gradient, and it provides refuge for more than 2000 species of plants, birds, fish and insects. With around 192,000 visitors a year, it is among the most visited national parks in Spain, although its survival is threatened by the overexploitation of aquifers, which in 2009 led the European Commission to open proceedings against Spain.
Monument
The church of Santa María la Mayor, the oldest building in Daimiel, dates back to the 14th century, although its south façade is from the 15th and its tower from the 16th. Of Gothic structure much altered by successive restorations, it retains on its north side its tall buttresses topped with pinnacles and the Umbría door, with a pointed arch; the main door, known as the Sol door, opens beneath a porch that hides the original façade. The interior, with three naves on four pillars, houses the image of the Santísimo Cristo de la Expiración (Most Holy Christ of the Expiration), attributed to the school of Alonso Cano, which was saved from the burning of altarpieces in 1936. Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1989, it also holds the tombstone of the Baron of Eroles, a hero of the Peninsular War, who died in Daimiel in 1825.
Monument
Parish church built from 1542, the year Emperor Charles V authorised its construction, although worship had already been taking place there since 1563 and the works were not finished until 1587. It has a Latin-cross plan in the Doric order, with brick vaults and star-ribbed vaulting in the transept and apse; it retains three doorways, including the Renaissance one at the foot of the church and the one known as the Sol doorway. The original altarpiece, gilded and Churrigueresque, was destroyed in the civil war; the current one, by the sculptor Alfredo Lerga, was unveiled in 1948, the year the church was consecrated, a unique privilege among Daimiel's churches. It also holds Holy Week images by the Sevillian sculptor Antonio Castillo Lastrucci and was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1989.
Monument
Daimiel's Plaza de España, of Renaissance origin and laid out in the 16th century, was formerly known as the Plaza de los Portales Blancos (Square of the White Arcades) for its whitewashed arcades, at first supported by wooden columns. In 1880 these were replaced with stone columns, which were later replaced by the current iron ones. Around it stands the town's historic centre, with the town hall and the Clock Fountain, and in the square grows the Thousand-Year Olive Tree, which tradition says was planted by the Arabs in the 10th century.
Monument
The Teatro Ayala is a building constructed in 1884 in Daimiel (Ciudad Real, La Mancha region), located on Calle Gregorio Molinero, next to the Parterre. In a style close to the formal classicism of the period, it followed the horseshoe-shaped theatre model, with a system of boxes, and its façade displayed pilasters, capitals, corbels and geometric reliefs that have since disappeared. In 1943 it was converted into a cinema, with the boxes replaced by a mezzanine, and has recently been fully refurbished inside as a performance and cultural venue for the town, today dedicated to multiple uses.
Monument
The Motilla del Azuer is a prehistoric Bronze Age site in the municipality of Daimiel (Ciudad Real), with occupation documented from 2450 BC and declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), as an archaeological zone, in 2013. It belongs to the singular type of settlement known as a motilla, characteristic of the La Mancha plain between 2200 and 1500 BC: an artificial mound resulting from a centrally planned fortification with several concentric walls, which here retains masonry walls more than eight metres high. Inside it, essential resources such as water were safeguarded—drawn from a well that is among the oldest excavated on the Iberian Peninsula—while large-scale grain was also stored, livestock kept, and pottery and other craft goods produced.
Nature
Daimiel's Thousand-Year Olive Tree (Ciudad Real), of the cornicabra variety, stands at one end of the Plaza de España and was planted, according to tradition, by the Arabs in the 10th century, making it a unique example of the town's traditional olive cultivation. Around it, the Fiesta del Olivo Milenario (Thousand-Year Olive Tree Festival) is held every November, with cultural and festive events that culminate in the Varea, the traditional harvesting of olives by beating them down with poles (varapalo); the event has been attended by public figures such as José Antonio Camacho, José Mota and José Bono.
Activity
Daimiel's Holy Week processions, declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Regional (festival of regional tourist interest) in 2002, begin on Palm Sunday with the borriquilla, in which children from several brotherhoods accompany the image of Jesus entering Jerusalem, and end on Holy Saturday with the procession of María Desolada. On Tuesday the Archicofradía de la Pasión (Archconfraternity of the Passion) processes with a Way of the Cross; on Wednesday, the Archicofradía del Cristo de Consuelo; on Holy Thursday, Los Coloraos, the brotherhood of the Santísimo Cristo de la Columna, considered the oldest; and on Good Friday, among others, that of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (Our Father Jesus the Nazarene) processes, one of the largest in Spain. Several brotherhoods hold carvings by the Sevillian sculptor Antonio Castillo Lastrucci.
Activity
El Día de la Sartén (Frying Pan Day) is a popular gastronomic festival in Daimiel (La Mancha, Ciudad Real) held on the third week of June and drawing more than a thousand participants. The town's local clubs cook and share traditional local dishes outdoors, such as migas, gachas and pisto, in a day that runs into the small hours of the morning, ending with hot chocolate and orchestral music.
Curiosity
In December 1884 King Alfonso XII visited Daimiel to shoot ducks in the Tablas. A few years later, in 1887, Queen María Cristina granted the town the title of city.
Food and drink
Candeal bread of dense crumb and crust marked with two crossed cuts and a cord around it, covered by a Protected Geographical Indication that covers the province. In Daimiel it accompanies the spoon dishes and sustains mojetes and pistos.