Alcázar de San Juan

Is a town of the province of Ciudad Real (Castilla La Mancha). Although there are remains of ancient civilizations, Alcázar de San Juan appears for the first time in medieval sources during the process of the Reconquista, with the Arabic name “Alcázar” to indicate a fortified place. The end of Arab rule was achieved thanks to the decisive action of the Military Order of San Juan, the only Order that depended directly on the Pontiff, unlike the others who obeyed the orders of the monarch. The influence of the Order of San Juan in Alcázar remain in the name “San Juan” and one of the most important historic buildings, the Torreón of the Grand Prior of the thirteenth century. In the seventeenth century, Alcázar was noted for being the place where they were exiled Don Juan José de Austria, the illegitimate son of Philip IV and his mother La Calderona. However, if anything characterizes Alcázar de San Juan, like many other towns of La Mancha, it is its link with El Quijote, through the discovery of an act of baptism of a certain Miguel de Cervantes, who, though only a namesake of the famous author’s work, served to advertise the country as a possible birthplace of Cervantes.