Cuenca, Spain

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For other articles on subjects named Cuenca, see Cuenca.

**Historic Walled Town of Cuenca**¹
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	Spain
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, v
Identification	#781
Region²	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1996 20th WH Committee Session
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/781
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

Cuenca is a city (2004 pop. 47,862) in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain. It is the capital of the province of Cuenca (see map).

1 The hanging houses
2 A quotation about Cuenca
3 The name, Cuenca
4 Attractions
5 External links

A beautiful and ancient city, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is famous for its casas colgantes or casas colgadas (hanging houses) on the edge of the gorge of the river Huécar. While its collection of historical buildings is not as impressive as Toledo or Salamanca, it offers a unique mixture of nature and human constructions. Its landscapes are particularly wonderful in autumn, due to the mix of green, yellow and red colours in the gorges of the two rivers. Cuenca, and the hanging houses, were featured in C. J. Sansom's 2006 novel, Winter in Madrid.

"Most Spanish towns faced with Cuenca's need to expand in the 18th century would have spread out along the surrounding countryside. But Cuenca, perched on the top of a hill, turned not to the earth but to the sky. Its improbable solution stands all along that part of the town that clings to the side of the hill and that faces the River Huécar: its hanging houses. The flat-fronted dwellings in the Barrio de San Martìn, so starkly simple a child could draw them, rise seven or eight teetering stories above a ravine and the River Huécar to the east. It is as if the town were trying to outgrow itself, reaching ever higher in an effort to compensate for the ravine below."

— Isabel Sota, from "Hanging Houses of Cuenca", in the October 21, 1990 edition of The New York Times

Its name may derive from Latin conca meaning "river basin", referring to the gorge of the rivers Júcar and Huécar. It may also be derived from the now-ruined Arab castle, Kunka. Other alternative original names are contemplated, including "Anitorgis", "Sucro" or "Concava". The city of Cuenca is also known as the "Eagle's Nest" because of its precarious position on the edge of a gorge.

The city is a popular day or weekend trip from Madrid, to which it is connected by rail (RENFE) and by highway (160 km), and is home to numerous museums, including the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art. Other attractions include Cuenca Cathedral.