Alcázar de San Juan

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Typical Windmills of La Mancha

City Hall

Sculpture of Miguel de Cervantes.

Church of San Francisco

Church of Santa Quiteria

Church of Santa María

Tower of Gran Prior

Alcázar de San Juan or simply Alcázar is a town and municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain.

It is located in the plain of La Mancha. Its name is taken from an old moorish fortress (Alcazar in Arabic language, which was afterwards garrisoned by the knights of St John (San Juan in Spanish language). Much of the action of Cervantes' Don Quixote takes place around Alcázar. The village of El Toboso was the home of the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso; Argamasilla de Alba is declared by tradition to be the birthplace of the original of Don Quixote himself.

It is believed that Alcázar is the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes as a birth certificate was found with that name in Santa María church, however historians deny this fact.