Puntos de Interés
Municipality
Aguas Nuevas
The town of Aguas Nuevas is about 8 kilometres from Albacete.
This is one of the so-called "colonisation villages" created by the National Colonisation Institute during the government of General Francisco Franco with the aim of repopulating rural areas. The entity decided to give it its name after locating a large amount of water in the vicinity, which they planned to use for irrigation.
The first inhabitants were families from all over the peninsula who were given a house, some farmland (between 8 and 15 hectares), some livestock, such as cows or horses, and farm implements to settle in the area. What was originally dry land became large areas of irrigated land. More than 50 years have passed and, since then, it has not stopped growing.
Its construction followed modular architectural and town planning models, previously used in other towns such as Vegaviana (Cáceres). Pedro Castañedo, who was also involved in Llano del Caudillo, Bazán and Cinco Casas (Ciudad Real), was in charge of the project.
Over the years, the inhabitants of Aguas Nuevas have created customs, traditions, festivals and even a virgin from Seville who that has been adopted by the population: La Virgen de las Aguas Santas.
The parish church with its tiled façade decorated in white and blue and tall tower is a notable feature of the village. There is also a similarly decorated administrative building. Also worth mentioning is the statue of San Isidro Labrador and various granite fountains and troughs.
Today, the inhabitants of Aguas Nuevas continue to work in agriculture as their main livelihood.
The inhabitants of this village celebrate the fiestas of San Antón, on 17th January, and San Isidro, on 15th May.
However, the most important festivity is undoubtedly the pilgrimage of the Virgen de las Aguas Santas.