Village
Motilla del Palancar is a municipality in La Manchuela Conquense, in Cuenca, with 6,432 inhabitants, crossed by the Valdemembra river on a plain whose highest point is Mount Morrones, at 935 metres. Its name comes from «motilla», a toponym common in La Mancha associated with mounds linked to the Motillas Culture, or Manchego Bronze Age, structures dated between 1700 and 1300 BC related to water management. The oldest mention of the current name dates from 1481, in a document delimiting the territories of Barchín del Hoyo and Motilla del Palancar by their pine forests, or palancares. The municipality broke away from the jurisdiction of Alarcón in 1489 and suffered a flood in 1921 with thirteen deaths, following the floods of 1811 and 1812; graphic designer José María Cruz Novillo was born there in 1936.
Monument
A parish church of Baroque design, drawn up in the 17th century by Fray Alberto de la Madre de Dios on Gothic foundations. It combines a medieval ground plan with a Classicist idiom.
Curiosity
A site documenting a Bronze Age settlement in the municipal district of Motilla, dated to the 2nd millennium BC. It is the oldest evidence of occupation in the area.
Nature
A watercourse that crosses the municipal district in a flat landscape barely broken by the 935-metre Cerro de los Morrones. It is the main hydrographic axis of this part of the Manchuela.
Activity
Patron saint festival of Motilla del Palancar in honour of San Gil Abad, held from 1 to 7 September and considered of great interest to the district, with an opening parade and fireworks, open-air dances, festivities and activities for all ages.
Activity
A re-enactment of the Passion of Christ through the streets of Motilla del Palancar (La Manchuela Conquense, Cuenca), from the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem to the Crucifixion and Death, spread across eighteen settings in the town. It began in 1992 at the hands of the priest Silvestre Valero and a group of young catechists, who performed the Passion inside the church before taking it out onto the street and establishing the present-day Auto Sacramental, with texts adapted from the Gospels and staging increasingly refined in scenery, costumes, sound and lighting. Declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Regional (a regional tourist-interest festival designation) in 2010, it is performed on the Saturday of Sorrows from half past seven in the evening, when the town's streets are transformed into the Jerusalem of the 1st century.
Activity
Pilgrimage of San Isidro Labrador, patron of farmers, held in Motilla del Palancar on 15 May. It is the town's quintessential rural festival: the whole town moves to the Reillas site for a day of folklore, games and country conviviality.
Historical milestone
Motilla del Palancar was detached by royal privilege from the jurisdiction of Alarcón in 1489. Its name is documented for the first time in 1481, in a boundary survey, and in 1552 the population barely exceeded 460 inhabitants.
Historical milestone
The cholera that swept Spain in 1885 caused 196 deaths in Motilla del Palancar, an enormous figure for the population of the time. It was the gravest health episode the town recorded over the course of the nineteenth century.
Historical milestone
The river Valdemembra burst its banks in 1921 and caused thirteen deaths in Motilla del Palancar. It was not the first time: in 1811 and 1812 two consecutive floods had already swept away a good part of the houses built beside the channel.
Historical milestone
Born in Motilla del Palancar on 21 May 1936 and died in Madrid in 2026, Cruz Novillo moved to Madrid in 1958 and in 1963 founded his own design studio, a pioneer in Spain. He is the author of some of the country's most recognizable logotypes, such as that of the newspaper El Mundo, the fist and rose of the PSOE, the old peseta banknotes of the Bank of Spain, and the identities of Correos, Renfe, Repsol and the Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, as well as co-author of the coat of arms and flag of the Community of Madrid. He also designed posters for films such as El sur and Los lunes al sol. Alongside this he developed a body of work as sculptor and painter, present at fairs such as ARCO, centred since the 1990s on the concept Diafragma.
Food and drink
Purée of boiled potato and shredded salt cod, crushed with garlic and bound with olive oil, served with walnuts and hard-boiled egg on top. It is a winter dish and a fast-day dish in the Manchuela and in the rest of the province.