One of the 11 restored pepperpot mills overlooking the plain of La Mancha at Consuegra, Castile-La Mancha, that became famous thanks to Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, ‘Don Quixote’. ‘Tilting at windmills’ refers to forlorn attempts by insane nobleman Alonso Quixano, with his squire, Sancho Panza, to ride against windmills turned into giants by an evil magician. The windmills survive the charge when Don Quixote is knocked off his horse. ‘Tilting at windmills’ and ‘quixotic’, describing idealists with unrealistic and impractical ideas and projects, have both passed into the English language.
Consuegra, Toledo Province, Castile-La Mancha, Spain: a single example of Spain’s most famous windmills, the iconic group of 11 restored pepperpot mills with conical roofs that share a ridge with Consuegra’s 12th century castle overlooking the great plains of La Mancha. Consuegra’s windmills became famous in the early-17th century, following the publication of Miguel de Cervantes’ ‘Don Quixote’, regarded as the first modern novel and a founding work of Western literature. The phrase ‘tilting at windmills’ refers to forlorn attempts by the chivalrous but insane nobleman, Alonso Quixano, accompanied by his squire, Sancho Panza, to ride against windmills in the deluded belief that an evil magician has turned them into giants. Inevitably, the windmills survive Don Quixote’s charge when he is knocked off his horse. ‘Tilting at windmills’ and the term ‘quixotic’, used to describe idealists with unrealistic and impractical ideas and projects, have both passed into the English language. Although Consuegra was not named by Cervantes as the inspiration for the infamous tilting episode, the 11 windmills - which all have individual names - are the best-known survivors of a type of mill once common throughout the area. Ten remain of what was once La Mancha’s largest group of 32 at Campo de Criptana and there are more above Alcázar de San Juan and Mota del Cuervo.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Consuegra, Toledo Province, Castile-La Mancha, Spain
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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