Logbook · 3 places

What to see and do in Alcocero de Mola

What to see and do in Alcocero de Mola (La Bureba, Burgos): 3 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

Towns near Alcocero de Mola

Spain › Castile and León › Burgos › La Bureba › Alcocero de Mola

What to see and do in Alcocero de Mola

Alcocero de Mola
Village
Alcocero de Mola is a municipality in the comarca of La Bureba, in the judicial district of Briviesca, province of Burgos, beside the río Oca, which flows down to the village from the Montes de Oca; it has 40 inhabitants. It was called Alcocero until 1937, when it was renamed in reference to General Emilio Mola, who died that year in an aircraft accident nearby during the Civil War; at the approximate site of the crash a monolith some 20 metres high was erected, inaugurated in 1939 and presided over by Francisco Franco. On 17 February 2026 the council approved restoring the original place name. It preserves the church of the Invención de la Santa Cruz, from the 16th century.
The death of General Mola
Historical milestone
The plane in which General Emilio Mola, one of the leaders of the rebel side, was travelling crashed in June 1937 on the slope of a hill on the outskirts of Alcocero; there were no survivors. His death, like that of General Sanjurjo shortly before, was never investigated by the Franco government, which fuelled controversy over what had happened. In 1939 a monument was erected on the hill, using the forced labour of local residents and Republican prisoners, with a twenty-metre tower topped by Mola's name in bronze; the place, although accessed from Alcocero, belongs administratively to the neighbouring Valle de Oca. That same year, 1937, the municipality had added the general's surname to its name, and in February 2026 the town council approved restoring the old name of Alcocero.
The twenty-metre monolith
Curiosity
A monolith of twenty metres with an internal staircase, visible from the whole comarca, was inaugurated on 2 June 1939 at a ceremony presided over by Franco. Today the village, of forty households, debates what to do with it and with its own name.