Spain's hanging houses — medieval casas colgadas suspended over a limestone gorge
Cuenca is one of Spain's most dramatically sited cities, perched on a ridge between two river gorges with its famous casas colgadas (hanging houses) jutting out over the Huécar gorge on timber-balconied foundations. The old city is UNESCO-listed; the Museum of Abstract Art inside one of the hanging houses holds works by Chillida, Tàpies, and Saura. The surrounding hoces (gorges) have limestone cliffs, pine forests, and one of the strangest geological formations in Spain — the Enchanted City of eroded rock pillars.
Cuenca was founded by the Moors (Qunka) in the 9th century on this nearly impregnable ridge. Alfonso VIII of Castile took it in 1177 and began the cathedral — the first Gothic church in Spain — immediately after the conquest. The hanging houses were built in the 15th century, cantilevered over the gorge as a pragmatic solution to a city with no horizontal room to expand. Cuenca declined after the 17th century and was partially depopulated; the hanging houses survived partly because no one could afford to demolish and rebuild them. The abstract art museum, opened in 1966, put the city back on…