Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Mancha, in the province of Ciudad Real, one of those contributing most vineyard hectares to the La Mancha Denomination of Origin, a tradition to which it has devoted the Museo Torre del Vino since 2014, with a panoramic viewpoint over the sea of vines. It preserves the Casa-Palacio de la Encomienda, a Renaissance building raised around 1524 for the leadership of the Order of Santiago and holding the chamber where Saint Teresa of Ávila stayed, the church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, begun at the end of the thirteenth century, and the ruins of the Casa de la Inquisición.
Monument
The church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción is the parish church of Socuéllamos (Ciudad Real), built on the same site where a place of worship had already existed since the town's refoundation, at the end of the 13th century. The earliest documentary references to the current building date from 1478-1480, when it was a rammed-earth building with a wooden roof. At the end of the 17th century its complete refurbishment was put out to tender, concluding in 1750 with the construction of the tower, destroyed by a fireworks accident in 1903 and rebuilt in 1956. Between 1775 and 1795 a retable was erected, designed by Salzillo and carved by José Castell; it was destroyed during the Civil War along with the choir, the images and the organ, and was remade in the mid-20th century in Corinthian style carved in wood. In 1970 a chapel was added beside the main altar, the work of the architect Antonio Gómez Villaseñor.
Monument
The Casa-Palacio de la Encomienda in Socuéllamos (La Mancha, Ciudad Real) was built around 1524 by Antonio de Mendoza as an extension of an earlier building, small and narrow, of defensive origin, constructed when the Order of Santiago settled in the town. Mendoza introduced Renaissance ideas inherited from his father, Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones, visible in the staircase at the far end of the corridor and in pillars and capitals with Ionic volutes; the Marquess of Aguilar later completed the work, joining the two wings of the building with a four-bay corridor of stone and wood. On the upper floor the guest room where Saint Teresa of Jesus stayed is preserved. The house remains in private hands, belonging to the Lodares family, hidalgos since the 18th century.
Monument
The Museo Torre del Vino is located in Socuéllamos (Ciudad Real), a town whose main economic driver is wine-growing agriculture, and it is devoted to the history, production and conservation of wine. It has a permanent exhibition of photographs and farming implements, a conference room and a tasting room, as well as a lookout on its top floor from which the Manchegan countryside can be seen, which has earned it the nickname “the lighthouse of La Mancha”. The idea of building a tower devoted to wine dates back to 1962, though the project was abandoned for lack of funds; in 1995 the mayor Sebastián García revived it, siting it on the walls of the old 19th-century railway station. The museum opened on 10 December 2014.
Monument
Stone sculpture museum created by the artist Gregorio García, born in Belmonte (Cuenca), in Socuéllamos. The collection brings together works carved entirely in stone, for which more than 50 million stones were used, and among its pieces a permanent May Cross stands out, reached through a worked stone arch, in addition to its own equally elaborate façade.
Curiosity
The ruins of the Casa de la Inquisición of Socuéllamos (La Mancha, Ciudad Real) correspond to the building located next to the church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción and the Palacio de la Encomienda, from which an inquisitorial tribunal directed against the Morisco population of the region operated in the 17th century. Its establishment is linked to the arrival of some forty Morisco families expelled from Granada after the Alpujarras rebellion of 1568; already around 1574 Uclés had sent a prosecutor to monitor popular festivities. Socuéllamos was one of the places where the tribunal acted with the greatest harshness. Of the house, only remains of the original door and a coat of arms are preserved.
Activity
The patron saint festivities of Socuéllamos, in the region of La Mancha (Ciudad Real), are celebrated in honor of the Santísimo Cristo de la Vega from August 9 to 15. During those days the town experiences processions and festivities around the image, which gives its name to the most important celebration on the local calendar.
Activity
The Carnaval of Socuéllamos (Ciudad Real) is one of the biggest in the region of La Mancha, with a parade of local and regional comparsas that usually brings together about 25, although in 2012 it reached 30, and close to 2000 participants in its competition. It starts with the opening proclamation and the crowning of the carnival queen, who change every year, and the festival is driven by peñas (local clubs) such as Maske or Los Mismos, some of them prize-winning in various parts of Castilla-La Mancha.
Food and drink
The La Mancha DO brings together the largest area of vineyard covered by a designation of origin in the world, and Socuéllamos is one of its municipalities with the most hectares planted. Airén, cencibel and macabeo dominate its wineries and cooperatives.