Walls of the
Moorish Castle on top of the Cerro de la Virgen |
Archidona is situated in the northern part of
Malaga province, in the Antequera
administrative area 20 kilometres from that town, and it borders
on the province of
Granada. The town itself lies at the foot of the Sierra de
Gracia, which is 943 metres above sea level, and is surrounded by the
Conjuro peak, 1,013 metres
high, and the 971 metre-high Sierra de las Grajas.
Its privileged position has resulted in it having been settled at
various points throughout
its early history, the proof of which is in the various
names the place has had over the centuries. The first tribe we have
some evidence of was the
Turdulo tribe, around 1,500 B.C. The Phoenicians came
later and called the place "Escua", which means "The
Principal Head", and
it is believed to be these who began building the town walls. When
finished, these made the
town one of the most difficult to conquer, and during
the Roman period it was known as "Arx Dómina". The Moors finally
named it "Medina
Arxiduna", from which it gets its present name. It was in
Archidona that one of the
most brilliant eras in Spanish history began: the Omeya
dynasty in Andalucía, and it was here too, at the end of the 9th
century and beginning of
the 10th century, that the rebellion of the Muladíes
and the Berbers took place, more usually known as the Mozarab rebellion,
under the leadership of the Muladi Omar Ben Hafsun. Peace
came back to the town under Abd el-Rahman III, first Caliph of
Cordoba. The influence of
the Cordobans was decisive for the well-being of Archidona,
and commerce, industry and agriculture flourished. Following the
political disorder of the
Taife reign, Archidona and Antequera went into decline,
and the walls of Archidona were eventually destroyed. The castle
was conquered from the
decadent Granada rulers in 1462, and the town we known
today began to take shape in the 16th century. The first important
urban centre was the Villa
Baja, built on the initiative of the Ureña family,
having achieved the sort of political power that had been enjoyed by
the people of the Villa
Alta. The new colonists settled in the calle Carrera
district, which was always the focal point of the town. The hermitages
of Santa Catalina (later Convento de la Victoria), Columna and El
Nazareno were built about that
time.
Places
to be visited
 |
Plaza
Ochavada
Situated right in the centre of the town, the Plaza Ochavada is
one of Andalucía¹s jewels of
Baroque architecture. It was built in 1786 by the local
master builders Antonio González Sevillano and Francisco Astorga
Frías, who proposed an original
structure octagonal in form of French origin,
in which the common Andalusian patio style was incorporated into a
classical style. In the interior one
can see the marvellous harmony of red brick
and white walls, a common feature of present-day design in the
town. Another sight worth
seeing is the Plaza de la Victoria, the centre of life in
the town. Here there are three important buildings: the Town Hall,
the old granary, or Cilla, with
its stone Baroque entrance and the Iglesia de la Victoria.
Religious architecture
The centre of Archidona has many religious buildings, mostly from
the 18th century. This was due
in great part to its position as an important crossroads.
One of the oldest is the Hermitage of the Virgen de Gracia,
dedicated to the devotion of the
patron saint. The building was originally a Moorish
mosque, the only one of its type still in existence in the
province, and it was adapted
for use as a church after the re-conquest. The Church of the
Nazarene and the Escuelas Pías was built in the middle of the
18th century. The most
interesting part of this building is the main entrance and the
clock tower. The church has an exceptional carving in the style of
the Granada school from the
16th century. The Church of Santa Ana was the first parish
church of the Villa Baja, built at the beginning of the 16th
century and re-constructed in
the 19th century. Of particular interest is the triangular
tower and the rich decoration of the interior. And finally, the
Convento de las Mínimas, still used
by the religious order, has a splendid Baroque
brick tower, crowned with a spire in green and white ceramic.
Church of Santa Ana
The conquering Christian forces took Archidona in 1462,
establishing themselves in the
Moorish quarter of the town and using the mosque as a church
devoted to Santa María. From the beginning of the 16th century
the population increased
considerably and the building was extended to form the Villa
Baja, present-day centre of the town. The church in the Villa Alta
was not big enough to
accommodate the rising population of the early 16th century,
and work began on the construction of the Church of Santa Ana in
an open area where the Town
Hall building was also erected. This resulted in the
life of the town centring around this area from that time on.
The Church of Santa Ana was built in
the late Gothic style, with a single nave
covered by Gothic vaults, now destroyed. The main altar area, one
of the few architectural
elements surviving from the original structure, was built
in a polygonal shape covered in a star-shaped vault. The
sacristy was added in the 18th century, built onto the main altar
area, and this has a square
shape with a central pillar from which semicircular arches
support the walls. In the third part of the 18th century too the
choir was built at the foot of the
central nave. The building fell into ruin during
the following century and in 1883 Carlos Sánchez de la Fuente y
Escovar, a resident of Archidona,
donated the funds towards its repair. A commemorative
stone in the sacristy bears his name. Two lateral naves were
added, vaulted in a style that is
reminiscent of the original Gothic style of
the building. The original Gothic ceiling was lost in the raising
of the central nave to the
level of the altar area, the supporting pillars squared in
the reinforcing needed to support the extra weight, and thus
making the original veiling
vault more decorative than useful. The
main feature of the inside of the church is the huge altar-piece,
similar in style to those of the first
half of the 18th century, although this
one was probably made towards the end of the century when the
choir was built. It was made in
gilded wood and decorated in asymmetric designs, its three
sections reminiscent of the altar-pieces in the Convento del
Carmen in Antequera. The base
supports a huge, highly decorated arch, designed to fit in
with the Gothic structure of the entire altar area. The
iconography is very simple: the
top section shows the dove of the Holy Spirit with the Child
Maria being instructed by her mother, Santa Ana, for whom the
church is named. The images are
small sculptures from the 16th century, recycled, so
to speak, in this altarpiece, and situated in the central niche.
Below this there is a small
temple to store the Host, occupied in our day by the Virgen
del Rosario. On both sides there are sculptures of the apostles
Peter and Paul, as witnesses to
the central theme. A large canopy covers the entire
piece, occupying the entire chapel area and painted in geometric
and floral motifs.
Buttresses support a triangular brick bell-tower on the outside,
in the original 16th century
style. This was built in two separate sections, steeply
roofed in tiles. The entrance is of stone, from the last part of
the 18th century, and is
gratifyingly simple in design. A canopied arch sits over
Doric columns supported by a high base with a pediment decorated
in a wreath and a papal
coat-of-arms. The pediment is topped by pinnacles on both sides
with a cross in the centre. Openings in the front and top of the
facade complete the whole, with a
small window on the very top that gives the
entire design a Gothic flavour.
Feria del Perro
The Feria del Perro, the Dog Fair, is now in its eighth edition,
and has been declared as being
of National Tourist Interest. In the first week of June,
more than 25,000 people turn up to see the exhibitions,
competitions and other
activities in which more than 4,000 dogs participate.
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| Where
to eat |
Restaurante
Central. Sea-food grills. Tel: 952 71 48 11.
Mesón La Estación. Rural
mesón. Specialising in grills and country cooking. Old
Muelle Estación. Reservations: 952 71 76 06. Estación de
Salinas.
Restaurante Escua. Traditional
home cooking. Meats and fish cooked in a wood oven.
Ctra. Jerez-Cartagena Km. 176.
Archidona. Tel: 952 714 376.
Restaurante Asador Las Viñas.
Specialising in meats roasted in a wood oven. Typical home-made
deserts. Ctra. Jerez-Cartagena Km. 181. Archidona. Tel: 952
714 941.
* One can also make a trip through the town centre by the
"Ruta del Tapeo", the
Tapa Route, visiting the bars along the way. |
| Where
to sleep |
Hotel
Escua (2*). Ctra. Granada - Sevilla Km. 176 . Tel:
952 714 376.
Hostal Las Rejas. Industrial
Estate. 952 714 468.
Hotel Central. C/Nueva
. Tel: 952 714 013.
Hostal Las Palomas. Tel:
952 714 326.
Rural
Accommodation in the province of Malaga
(in
Spanish)
|
The 18th century
Plaza Ochavada |
FIESTAS
The most important festival in Archidona is undoubtedly Holy Week, the
Semana Santa. Here the very best floats are made, with top quality artwork
in the statues carried through the streets at this time. Other big festive
events are the carnival in February, the Feria del Perro in June and the
big
August Feria, in honour of the Virgen de Gracia.
GASTRONOMY
Among the most typical dishes for which Archidona is well-known are the
cazuela moruna (Moorish
casserole), the egg stew, the porra archidonesa, the
sopa ochavada and the gachas de mosto. Other
well-known delicacies include
the cookies known as bollos de manteca, the
doughnuts, the curiously named
pestiños (pestiño translated as "plain
girl") and the traditional desserts
of the area, one of which - the "dulces
de las monjas mínimas" - is named
after the nuns in
the order of the same name.
NATURAL SORROUNDINGS
Archidona is not
only a beautiful and historic town, but is also rich in natural
surroundings, allowing for rural tourism at its best and a full range
of trekking, cycling and general mountain activities. There are two
nature trails worth noting in particular: the
Hoz del Arroyo Marín and the Lagunas
(lakes) de Archidona. One reaches the Hoz del Arroyo Marín, a tributary
of the Guadalhorce, by the road towards Villanueva del Trabuco, the
L-222, taking a smaller road that veers off at the quarry and follows
the course of the river. There is a barbecue
and camping area at the Cortijo
Pilatos, and it is at this point that the river runs fast through pine
forest and rich vegetation. The Lagunas Grande y Chica (Big and Small
Lakes) of Archidona have been officially
declared a nature reserve of Andalucía.
It is a humid area of salt water, rich in sulphates and of high ecological
value.
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