You can access this unique village of Alcarreño, from the main road linking Sacedón with Cifuentes - remember, in this last town, the church of El Salvador is located, which still conserves in its magnificent portal of Santiago, one of the Romanesque jewels of all the province-, being located, approximately, to about 15 or 20 kilometers of Córcoles and the monastery of Monsalud.
The most remarkable thing, as the traveler who will one day ventures to get there, is the imposing rocky outcrop, where the town is welcomed .... But La Puerta is also a place that offers the traveler a multitude of details.
Like Cifuentes, although also quite reformed, the temple of San Miguel Arcángel constitutes one of the most interesting Byzantine elements, if not of the whole province, yes at least of that Alcarria immortalized by Camilo José Cela in his famous trips. In fact, and in front of the church, a small sign that breaks and slants the white of the façade, reminds the visitor that precisely in that house, he rested from the avatars of the road, sleeping a profitable 'siesta'.
Such an event occurred on June 9, 1946. That is, during the details of his first trip. But it would not be until years later - in 1986, when his new journey to La Alcarria, made by traveling in Jaguar and having a spectacular ebony female driver, whom he affectionately called Oteliña- saw, that he would concretize some details of the place and of its people, that maybe - always, of course, without the intention of offending -, it would not be bad to consign in the present entry.
For example, his opinion that, in view of the fact that many blue eyes could be seen, it would be possible that through the veins of its inhabitants, the old goda blood flowed, generously spilled in the sadly famous battle of the Guadalete. Or also that they are called, in addition to pantorrilludos -like those of Cifuentes and Cereceda-, of the beam crosses, like those of Horche and those of Loranca de Tajuña.
Typical topics aside, the truth is that, wherever you look, La Puerta is a small town where, by a series of circumstances - subjective, if you will - the traveler interested in the mysteries related to certain cavalry orders , like that of the Templars, can not help but feel, at least suspicious. Especially, if you know that, continuing on the county road that has brought you there, and in a few kilometers, leads to Zorita de los Canes, on the remains of whose fortress -he was later occupied by the calatravos, as can be seen, as well , its presence in the monastery of Monsalud and possibly also here in La Puerta-, weighs the legend of a previous occupation of these.
Relevant, likewise, is the same place name: La Puerta. A toponym that, following the comments of Oursel (1), would be in line with some other place names -La Espina, La Guardia, La Torre, etc-, which determined places occupied by these, at least, hardened monks-warriors.
The advocación of the church, without being determinative, certainly, is also interesting, being, the Psicostático Arcángel, one of its favorite saints and coinciding its construction -siglos XII and XIII- with the period of greater splendor of these in the Peninsula, not being casual, either, the later presence calatrava in the places where the popular tradition placed them, because, as Juan Eslava Galán (2) says: it is revealing that the first batches of calatravian friars come from the own rows of the Temple.
Some indications allow to suspect that, in its beginnings, in 1164, Calatrava could be a Templar branch. Of Templar origins or not, what is evident, is that La Puerta is a curious and attractive place, which draws attention for its surroundings and where the Romanesque still survives in its church of San Miguel, as has been said at the beginning of the present entry, it is a real gem, which is well worth knowing.
Notes and Bibliography:
(1) 'Pilgrims, Hospitallers and Templars', text by Oursel, photograph of Zodiaque, volume 10 of the Romanesque Europe Series, Ediciones Encuentro, December 1986.
(2) Juan Eslava Galán: 'Unusual and mysterious Spain', Editorial Planeta, S.A., Barcelona, 2006.
Related movie:
NOTICE: originally published, under the title of 'The Door: church of San Miguel Arcángel', in my blog GUADALAJARA WAY WALKS WHEN WALKING. Both the text, as the photographs, and the video (except music, reproduced under a YouTube license), are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://jcarlos347-juancar347.blogspot.com/2015/01/la-puerta-iglesia-de-san-miguel-arcangel. html
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