Albacete history and curiosities: what is history and what is legend

Albacete has a reputation as a modern city, but its history is long and full of curious details. Its name comes from Arabic, its Feria was born from a royal privilege and its cathedral took more than four centuries to finish. Here we tell you what the sources say and, separately, what legend tells.

Where does the name Albacete come from?

The name comes from the Arabic al-Basit, which means “the plain”. It suits the landscape: the city sits on a vast plateau in La Mancha.

In the Middle Ages it was a village that depended on nearby Chinchilla. In 1375 the first Marquis of Villena granted it the status of villa, a chartered town, and with it independence from Chinchilla. According to the City Council, by then its population was growing and its fair drew merchants and livestock traders from the surrounding area.

The title of city came much later, in 1862, from Queen Isabella II.

How did the Albacete Fair begin?

The Feria is the city’s great festival and has medieval roots. Documents mention fairs in Albacete as early as the 14th century, first held in the street that still bears its name.

The big boost came in March 1710. King Philip V granted the town the privilege of a feria franca, a fair free of certain taxes, lasting four days: from 7 to 11 September. The date was tied to the feast of the Virgen de los Llanos, the patron saint.

The Sartén, a building raised in a month

In 1783 the town council decided to build a permanent fairground on the threshing floors of Santa Catalina. Albacete then had around 7,000 inhabitants. The architect Josef Ximénez raised the circular building that survives today in barely a month.

A second ring was added the following year. In 1912 the Art Nouveau bandstand was placed in the centre, and in 1944 the fairground grew with a third circle. Its round shape, with an arcaded entrance avenue, explains the popular nickname: la Sartén, the frying pan, complete with its handle.

Today the Feria runs from 7 to 17 September, and in 2008 it was named a Festival of International Tourist Interest.

The cathedral that took more than four centuries

Construction of the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista began in 1515, on top of a Mudéjar church from the late 13th century. Work went on until well into the 20th century.

Its most famous feature is the four giant columns separating the naves, more than thirteen metres tall. They follow designs by Diego de Siloé, one of the great architects of the Spanish Renaissance, and were built by Jerónimo Quijano.

Curiously, the church did not become a cathedral until 1949. That year Pope Pius XII created the Diocese of Albacete and San Juan became its seat. Between 1958 and 1962 the painter Casimiro Escribá covered its walls with large canvases totalling around a thousand square metres.

Who built the Pasaje de Lodares?

The Pasaje de Lodares is one of the most distinctive buildings in the centre. It was commissioned by Gabriel Lodares, mayor of Albacete on several occasions, in the image of Italy’s shopping galleries.

The 1925 project is by the Valencian architect Buenaventura Ferrando Castells. The building has five floors and is crossed by a covered passage with an iron and glass roof that links Calle Mayor and Calle Tinte.

A curiosity to look for: Gabriel Lodares’s initials appear at the entrances. Since 1996 it has been a Bien de Interés Cultural, Spain’s highest heritage protection, and in 2023 restoration work began to make it accessible and clean its façades.

Why is Albacete famous for its knives?

Cutlery is part of the city’s identity. The cutlers’ guild is already documented in the 15th century and, according to the Castilla-La Mancha tourist board, the craft appears to have been inherited from the Muslims.

The classic folding knife spread across Spain at the end of the 16th century. In the 18th century its shape became fixed, and Albacete knives became famous for their temper, their sturdiness and their engravings.

The station sellers

In the 19th century the railway arrived and, with it, a much-remembered figure: the knife sellers who waited for trains at the station. They carried their goods on a display hanging from their belt and offered them to travellers.

That story, with antique pieces and traditional workshops, is told at the Cutlery Museum, opened in 2004 in the Casa del Hortelano.

History and legend: the Virgen de los Llanos

What legend says

Popular tradition tells that a farmer found the image of the Virgin while ploughing in the area known as Los Llanos. The image disappeared and reappeared several times. The farmer told the church authorities, and a hermitage was built where it had been found.

What history says

The Diocese of Albacete acknowledges that it is practically impossible to establish when this devotion began or when the hermitage was built. What is known is that the original image was a Gothic wooden carving from the 15th century.

In 1956, the year of her canonical coronation, the City Council named her perpetual mayor of the city. Since the privilege of 1710, the Feria has been tied to her September feast.

The Teatro Circo, a living record

Another curiosity few people know: the Teatro Circo was built in 1887 in just over seven months, from January to September. Its auditorium was designed to work either as a theatre or as a circus ring.

The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha presents it as the oldest circus theatre still operating in the world. Its interior decoration, in neo-Moorish style, is inspired by the Alhambra.

In short

• Name: from the Arabic al-Basit, “the plain”.
• Town and city: a chartered town in 1375, independent from Chinchilla; a city in 1862.
• Feria: privilege from Philip V in 1710; circular fairground from 1783; International Tourist Interest since 2008.
• Cathedral: begun in 1515, a cathedral since 1949, with columns following Siloé’s designs.
• Pasaje de Lodares: a 1925 project, a Bien de Interés Cultural since 1996.
• Cutlery: guild documented in the 15th century, fame earned in the 18th.
• Legend: the farmer finding the Virgen de los Llanos is tradition, not a documented fact.

When menumentos launches, these stories will play on your phone as you pass each place, with legend always told as legend.