Alcázar de San Juan

Its name is taken from an old moorish fortress (al-qaSsr in Arabic language), which was afterwards garrisoned by the knights of St John (San Juan in Spanish language).[2]

Much of the action of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote takes place near Alcázar. The village of El Toboso (20 miles) was the home of the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso; Argamasilla de Alba (26 miles) is declared by some to be the birthplace of the original Don Quixote himself.[2]

Railways arrived to Alcázar de San Juan in 1854, as part of the Aranjuez–Almansa line, and, in 1861, another line was opened (Alcázar–Manzanares–Daimiel–Almagro–Ciudad Real).[3]

The town was granted the title of city (ciudad) in April 1877.[4]

The famous Third Mixed Brigade (Tercera Brigada Mixta) of the Spanish Republican Army was established in Alcázar de San Juan in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.[5]

Alcázar de San Juan has a reputation as railway hub.[6] It is part of the Madrid–Valencia and Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz lines.

Since 2015,[7] the city has struggled for years to move forward with the project for the construction of the Plataforma Logística Intermodal "Mancha Centro",[8] a dry port.

• Old windmills
• Tower of the Grand Prior (14th century)
• Church of St. Mary Major (13th-15th centuries)
• Church of St. Francis of Assisi (14th-15th centuries)
• Convent of St. Claire (16th century)

• 
  Holy Trinity Church.
• 
  Saint Francis Church.

Twin towns and sister cities

Alcázar de San Juan is twinned with:

• Mâcon, France (1980)[9]
• Guanajuato, Mexico (2014).[10]

• José Antonio Redondo, cyclist.
• Ángel Lizcano Monedero y Esteban, (1846-1929) was a Spanish painter and illustrator.[11]

• Media related to Alcázar de San Juan at Wikimedia Commons