Windmills at Castillo de Consuegra La Mancha Spain_Monotone_GRK2268_02062019
by Greg Kluempers
Title
Windmills at Castillo de Consuegra La Mancha Spain_Monotone_GRK2268_02062019
Artist
Greg Kluempers
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
ON THE TOP OF THE Cerro Calderico mountain in the quaint historic town of Consuegra, 12 white tower windmills crown the hill, surrounded by the sprawling plains of Castilla-La Mancha and backdropped by a striking medieval castle. These iconic towers are believed to be the windmills described by Miguel de Cervantes in his famous 17th-century novel Don Quixote.
Each of the Consuegra windmills has a unique name taken from the novel, in which Don Quixote de la Mancha mistakes the towers for giants and picks a fight with them in a particularly memorable scene that coined the term “tilting at windmills.”
Initially built to grind grain, the mills were modeled on the Dutch windmills of the 16th and 17th centuries, with a cylindrical tower and conical deck where the shaft and its four rectangular blades are housed. The interior is divided into three floors connected by a staircase along the wall. On the lower floor is the silo, where the ground grain was stored. On the second floor, there is a sieve to separate the flour from the bran. The third floor, the largest, houses the machinery, with the most striking element being the “Catalina” wheel. In the upper part of the wall, eight windows were opened to help the miller determine the direction of the wind and thus the orientation of the blades.
The tower mills were passed down through the generations until being retired in the 1980s. Twelve of the original 13 mills were restored and opened as a tourist attraction. In 2006, the windmills and the adjacent 12th-century Castle of La Muela were declared a cultural historic site.
https://www.spainheritagenetwork.com/castillos/tarifas/castillo-de-consuegra/62554506f9a2e249dbef5db0
Uploaded
April 16th, 2023
Embed
Share