Last modified: 2019-10-08 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Palomera (159 inhabitants in 2018; 5,007 ha) is located 15 km east of Cuenca.
The statue of the Mountain's Shepherd was designed in 1929 by Luis Marco
Pérez, the sculptor who designed most of the statues used during the
Holy Week's processions in Cuenca. The bronze statue, of 180 kg in
weight, was the first ever dedicated to a shepherd in Spain. The
sculptor visited several mountain villages until he found the adequate
model, in the Valdecabras mountains. The statue was awarded in 1930 a
Gold Medal by the Circle of Arts.
For a while standing on the village's main square, the statue was
relocated to its original site, in the Huécar gorge.
[Camino Palomera, 31 May 2018]
Palomera is the birth place of the agronomist and economist Miguel Caxa
Leruela (1562-1631). As the Alacalde Mayor of the Concejo de la Mesta
(Ship-Breeders' Council), he favored sheep breeding and established a
balance between animal husbandry and agriculture; he promoted
transhumance and passage of the herds through vineyards, a practice that
had been banned in 1617, and the limitation of grapevine plantings.
Caxa's progressivist views of agronomy are expressed in the books
Discurso sobre la principal causa y reparo de la necesidad común,
carestía general y despoblación de estos reino (Discourse on the main
cause of common poverty, general starvation and depoulation of the
kingdom, and its solutions), published in 1627 and increased in 1631 as
Restauración de la antigua abundancia de España. O prestantísimo, único y fácil reparo de su carestía presente (Restoration of the old abundancy in Spain. Excellence, the unique and easy solution to the
present starvation). The books proposed solutions to the crisis
experienced by shepherds, such as the nationalization of pastures and
the allocation to a sufficient number of sheep to each shepherd, which
were applied in the 18th century.
[Camino Palomera]
Ivan Sache, 1 July 2019
The flag of Palomera is prescribed by an Order issued on 1 June 2005 by
the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 10 June 2005 in
the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 116, p. 11,868 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular panel, horizontally divided in the middle. First half, vert (green), referring to the Serranía. Second half, purple, referring to the epos of the attack of Cuenca by the Commoners. In the center the coat of arms of Palomera.
The coat of arms of Palomera is prescribed by an Order issued on 1 June
2005 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 10 June
2005 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 116, p. 11,868 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Azure a pidgeon house [palomar] surrounded by doves [palomas], as the symbol of Palomar. A river argent (white) as a symbol of river Huecar on a background azure recalling Palomero's blue sky, 2a. Vert (green) two millstones, as a symbol of the hamlet of Molinos de Papel, 2b. Gules (red) a paper sheet stmbolizing the elaboration of paper in the mills of the same name. [Crown not mentioned].
Molinos de Papel (Paper Mills), located 6 km of Cuenca, was named for a
paper mill established in 1613 by the Genoese Juan Otonel, who produced
here the first refined paper in Spain. A paper mill already existed
there in 1530 that produced low-quality paper.
With time, a hamlet developed, composed of four paper mills, houses, a
bread oven, and a chapel. After the local rulers had opposed to the
operation of the mill, allegedly located on a transhumance road, Otonel
required Royal protection, which was obtained in 1638; to highlight his
support, King Philip III paid a visit to the mill in 1642.
[Camino Palomera, 4 March 2015]
Ivan Sache, 1 July 2019
