The best traffic-free bike rides around Manzanares

Built between 1713 and 1729 as part of the monumental complex that includes the Church of the Most Holy Christ of the Valley. Declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 1993. Originally conceived as a church atrium, it was transformed into a unique porticoed plaza in La Mancha.

The beautiful main square was built by the same architect with the intention of being like an atrium to frame it and integrate it into the complex. The square is an enormous rectangle measuring almost 53 m long by 21 m wide: on one side, the Town Hall with a cantilevered balcony on wooden corbels; on the other, the Casa Grande de la Hospedería. It has a carriage yard with wooden galleries opening onto it. From its sides arise the brick arches that give way to the wide, straight radial streets of this town.

San Carlos del Valle opens from its splendid Plaza Mayor with an orthogonal projection and an almost round perimeter. Everything extends around a radiated origin, the centre of that circumference, the church of Santísimo Cristo del Valle, where the peak of the compass overwhelms us. It is a late baroque church, with certain influences of the neoclassical style. It is an immense cube with four towers superimposed at its corners and an enormous dome that emerges over the building. The temple has four facades, two of which have a main door of extraordinary beauty and well-deserved study in their centre.

The church was built on an old sanctuary-hermitage between the 12th and 13th centuries. Its style is late baroque, with some neoclassical elements. It has a Greek cross plan inscribed in a square. Inside, there is the image of the miraculous Christ. The exterior façade is built of brick, with noble parts in stone. Four corner towers and a huge dome emerge above the building. The rough and grotesque human figures in the corners represent the masses who sang and danced during the town festivals. The main doorway, conceived as a gigantic altarpiece, faces the square. The enclosure is covered by a large cased dome composed of a drum, half orange and lantern on a molded ring.

The Manzanares Castle (Castillo de Pilas Bonas) is included in the Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Historical-Artistic Interest carried out by the Ministry of Culture in 1979. Although there are still many dark points regarding the origin of the Castle and the town of Manzanares, various historians agree that the Castle must have been built around the year 1239, after the demarcation of the territories of the orders of Santiago and Calatrava. The reasons for its construction would probably be the proximity to the Azuer River, the existence of wells with abundant water or the crossing of roads and trails.

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The church of Santísimo Cristo del Valle was built on the previous hermitage sanctuary of Santa Elena, where according to tradition, a miraculous Christ appeared left in a haystack by a strange walker. It was built between 1723 and 1739, and was restored on several occasions. It has a Greek cross plan inscribed in a square, the arms are covered by half-barrel vaults supported by Tuscan pilasters with a festoon decorated with corbels, at whose intersection stands a large octagonal drum and four turrets at the corners, with iron railings. , which supports a half-orange dome decorated with pomegranates.

The beautiful main square was built by the same architect with the intention of being like an atrium to frame it and showcase it within the complex. The square is an enormous rectangle that measures almost 53 m long by 21 m wide: on one side, the City Hall with a cantilevered balcony on wooden corbels; to the other, the Casa Grande de la Hospedería. It has a carriage yard to which wooden galleries open. From its flanks emerge the brick arches that give way to the radial, wide and straight streets of this town.