Ciudad Encantada

Ciudad Encantada
IUCN category III (natural monument or feature)
Rock wall in Ciudad Encantada
Location of Ciudad Encantada
Location	Cuenca, Spain
Coordinates	40°12′29″N 2°0′35″W / 40.20806°N 2.00972°W / 40.20806; -2.00972Coordinates: 40°12′29″N 2°0′35″W / 40.20806°N 2.00972°W / 40.20806; -2.00972
Area	250 acres (100 ha)
Established	1929

A mushroom rock, Ciudad Encantada.

The Ciudad Encantada ('Enchanted City') is a geological site near the city of Cuenca, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain in which the erosive forces of weather and the waters of the nearby Júcar river have formed rocks into distinctive and memorable shapes.

It was declared a Natural Site of National Interest on 11 June 1929.

Origin of the formations

The rock formations of Ciudad Encantada are karst formations, which date back to the Cretaceous period, approximately 90 million years ago.

Shapes of rocks

The rock formations that have been named include:

• Mushroom rocks Seta ('Mushroom')
• Puente ('Bridge')
• Cara ('Face')
• Convento ('Convent')
• El mar de piedra (The stone sea)
• Teatro ('Theatre')
• Hipopótamos ('Hippopotami')
• Amantes ('Lovers')
• La foca (The seal)
• La tortuga (the turtle)
• Los osos (the bears)

Ciudad Encantada in audiovisual media

Ciudad Encantada appears as a location in the following films:

• A Professional Gun, 1968.
• The Valley of Gwangi, 1969.
• Conan the Barbarian, 1982.

Gallery

• 
  Rock walls
• 
  Man's face
• 
  Other mushroom rock
• 
  The stone sea
• 
  Battle of the crocodile and the elephant
• 
  The mushrooms
• 
  A drawing of Ciudad Encantada, circa 1875, published in Annals of the Spanish Society of Natural History

See also

• Mushroom rocks

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ciudad Encantada.

• Visitor information from the Ayuntamiento de Cuenca
• Images of some of the more distinctive rock formations
• Web Ciudad Encantada Cuenca