Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Buenache de Alarcón

What to see and do in Buenache de Alarcón (La Manchuela Conquense, Cuenca): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 2 Activities

When to go to Buenache de Alarcón: festival calendar

April: The Mayos of Buenache de Alarcón (Noche del 30 de abril)
September: Festivities of la Virgen de la Estrella de Buenache (Del 13 al 18 de septiembre)

How far each place is from the centre of Buenache de Alarcón

Towns near Buenache de Alarcón

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Cuenca › La Manchuela Conquense › Buenache de Alarcón

What to see and do in Buenache de Alarcón

Buenache de Alarcón
Village
Buenache de Alarcón is a municipality in the comarca of La Manchuela Conquense, in the province of Cuenca, with 447 inhabitants, situated on the left bank of the Júcar river, between Hontecillas and Olmedilla de Alarcón, at the end of La Mancha. Charles V spent the night here on 26 April 1528, on his way to Valencia. Its church of San Pedro Apóstol preserves 13th-century remains in the apse, 15th-century Gothic arches and Mudejar coffered ceilings from the 15th-16th centuries, as well as an 18th-century baroque altarpiece and a chapel of the Inmaculada Concepción from 1675-1686, the work of Diego de Reillo, archpriest of Belmonte. There is also a neoclassical hermitage from the mid-20th century, which replaced the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Estrella, submerged by the Alarcón reservoir; at midnight, the young men go round the village singing los mayos.
Church of San Pedro Apóstol de Buenache de Alarcón
Monument
The parish church of San Pedro Apóstol, in Buenache de Alarcón, has a hall-church plan with three naves, the central one taller, covered with a trough-shaped timber ceiling except at the side chancels, which are closed with tierceron and ribbed vaults, the latter with a two-light Gothic window topped with trefoils. Over the crossing rises a hemispherical ribbed dome on pendentives, and the semicircular apse, with an arrow-slit now blocked up, points to a proto-Gothic origin in the 13th century. Next to the presbytery there are two chapels: that of the Santo Cristo de la Viga, in the shape of a Latin cross with a dome and lantern, and that of the Inmaculada Concepción, built in ashlar, commissioned by Diego de Reillo, archpriest of Belmonte, between 1675 and 1686. It preserves an 18th-century Baroque altarpiece with Solomonic columns dedicated to San Pedro.
Hermitage of la Virgen de la Estrella de Buenache
Monument
Hermitage of neoclassical design built in the mid-20th century in Buenache de Alarcón (Cuenca), about two kilometres from the village, replacing the original sanctuary, which stood beside the Júcar river, on a historic route between Castile and Andalusia, and was submerged under the waters of the Alarcón reservoir. It is a single-nave building with a bell tower. Every May a pilgrimage is held from the present-day hermitage to the vicinity of the site of the old one, in memory of the transfer of the image of the Virgen de la Estrella from one sanctuary to the other.
The hermitage swallowed by the reservoir
Monument
The original shrine of the Virgen de la Estrella was left submerged beneath the waters of the Alarcón reservoir. Every May local residents make a pilgrimage to the original site in its memory.
The Mayos of Buenache de Alarcón
Activity
The Mayos of Buenache de Alarcón (La Manchuela Conquense, Cuenca) are a long-standing tradition held every 30 April at midnight: the young men go around the village singing verses dedicated to the young women of the place, mentioning their boyfriends, suitors or sweethearts.
Festivities of la Virgen de la Estrella de Buenache
Activity
Patronal festivities in honour of the Virgen de la Estrella, with a procession and popular festivities. They are held between 13 and 18 September. Every May a pilgrimage is also held that recalls the transfer of the image from the old hermitage, on the banks of the Júcar river, to the new hermitage built in the 1940s and 1950s, when the construction of the Alarcón reservoir forced the abandonment of the original site, south of the municipality; during the pilgrimage the image is brought down from the new hermitage to that original site.