CUENCA – Wednesday morning, the street collapses connecting the world-famous “hanging houses” of Cuenca to the San Pablo Bridge. It is the most emblematic part of the world heritage city’s historical centre.
Calle Canónigos street collapses during remedial works carried out after cracks appeared a few months ago. According to sources at the townhall cited by Cadena SER, there were no injuries. The construction workers were reportedly just taking a break when incident occurred at around 10:30am. Passers-by escaped injury as well.
The street was closed to traffic for the first time in the spring of September 2019, after the first cracks appeared in the road. Two years later, on April 21, work started on the wall that runs along the street.
World Heritage City of Cuenca
The well-preserved medieval centre of Cuenca has cobbled streets, special corners, brightly coloured facades and beautiful squares. It is a World Heritage Site and sits between Madrid and Valencia. The city is on a narrow rocky massif between the gorge of the river Júcar and that of the river Huécar. The old town is on the rock and the new town is below.
Cuenca is famous for its hanging houses (Casas Colgadas) built in the 14th century on a protruding rocky plateau above a deep ravine. The last three remaining hanging houses can be admired from the inside as they house a museum of abstract art.
Puente San Pablo
Via the now collapsed street you walked from the hanging houses to the spectacular iron walkway Puente de San Pablo. The walkway was originally made of stone until it collapsed in 1903. It serves as a link between the centre of the city and the Monastery of San Pablo on the other side of the ravine. The monastery now houses a state hotel of the Parador chain.
