Cuenca

Cuenca, the capital of the Spanish province of Cuenca; 125 m. by rail E. by S. of Madrid. Pop. (1900) 10,756. Cuenca occupies a height of the well-wooded Serrania de Cuenca, at an elevation of 2960 ft., overlooking the confluence of the rivers Jucar and Huecar. A fine bridge, built in 1523, crosses the Jucar to the convent of San Pablo. Among several interesting churches in the city, the most noteworthy is the 13th-century Gothic cathedral, celebrated for the beautiful carved woodwork of its 16th-century doorway, and containing some admirable examples of Spanish sculpture. The city has a considerable trade in timber, and was long the headquarters of the provincial wool industry; the loss of which, in modern times, has partly been compensated by the development of soap, paper, chocolate, match and leather manufactures. Cuenca was captured from the Moors by Alphonso VIII. of Castile in 1177, and shortly afterwards became an episcopal see. In 1874 it offered a prolonged and gallant resistance to the Carlist rebels.