Explorer Cuenca

The Hanging Houses are a group of medieval houses whose wooden balconies project over the edge of the cliff above the Huécar gorge in Cuenca. Three survive, the Casa de la Sirena and the two Casas del Rey, recorded from the 15th century and last restored in the 1920s. They face the San Pablo footbridge, and the Casas del Rey house the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español.

The Museo de Arte Abstracto Español was founded in 1966 by the painter Fernando Zóbel inside the Hanging Houses of Cuenca. Its collection of Spanish abstract painting and sculpture from the 1950s and 1960s includes works by Chillida, Tàpies, Saura, Torner and Zóbel. Since 1980 it has been run by the Fundación Juan March.

Cuenca Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Julian, is one of the earliest Gothic cathedrals in Spain, begun in 1182 and largely complete by 1257 on Anglo-Norman models. Its neo-Gothic façade on the Plaza Mayor dates from after the collapse of the bell tower in 1902. Inside are an ambulatory, side chapels from several centuries and a treasury museum.

The Convent of San Pablo is a former Dominican convent founded in the 16th century on a rock spur over the Huécar gorge, facing the Hanging Houses across the San Pablo footbridge. Since 1993 the convent buildings have been a Parador hotel. Its late Gothic church, with a Rococo front, has housed the Espacio Torner, a display of works by Gustavo Torner, since 2005.