Three windmills in La Mancha, central Spain, that inspired one of the most famous passages in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote have been restored to working order, 500 years after they first ground wheat.
Originally, as Cervantes noted in his 1605 masterpiece, more than 30 windmills marched acrossthe windy plain at the spot scholars have identified as Campo de Criptana. Ten remain, but only three retain their original system of levers and pulleys. These three turned once again this week, bringing to life one of the most evocative and durable images of old Spain.
"These are the only three originals of the 34 that once stood here, and now they're in working order this makes them unique in Spain," Santiago Lucas-Torres, Campo de Criptana's mayor, said yesterday. "They grind flour just as well now as they did in the 16th century. We've not only recovered a tradition, but revived one of the great international symbols of Spain."
The mills will work once a month, then every Sunday, and the flour will be donated to poor countries.
Records from 1535 show that this was the only spot in Spain where 34 windmills once stood, identifying them as those immortalised in the episode when deluded knight Don Quixote ignores the warnings of Sancho Panza and charges at the windmills, breaking his lance in their turning sails.
Locals hope to register the windmills' names - Sardinero, Burleta and Infanto - as a cultural heritage site.
