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THE
DEPARMENT FOR TOURISM, TRADE AND SPORT OF THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF ANDALUSIA HAS NOW IMPLEMENTED ITS TOURISM PLAN FOR MEDIUM-SIZED
TOWNS, WHICH WILL COVER SIX DIFFERENT BOROUGHS: ANTEQUERA
(IN MALAGA PROVINCE), LOJA (GRANADA), ALCALA LA REAL (JAEN),
LUCENA (CORDOBA) AND ECIJA AND ESTEPA (SEVILLA). THE GENERAL
AIMS OF THIS INITIATIVE ARE TO ADD VALUE TO THE ARCHITECTURAL
HERITAGE OF THE TOWNS INVOLVED, TO STRENGTHEN AND INTEGRATE
THEIR COMMERCIAL FABRIC, TO PROMOTE A NETWORK OF EMPLOYMENT
AMONG THE TOWNS, TO CREATE NEW PRODUCTS IN THE TOURISM SECTOR
AND TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE CULTURE OF QUALITY TOURISM.
The capital of the plains, venerable and
distinetive, born out of the hollow which surrounds and
gave rise to the town, was from the very earliest days home
to our ancestors, a settlement which attracted ancient prehistoric
nomads to this fertile valley in which they found the perfect
dwelling place.
 From
those early encampments, built four or five thousand years
before Christ, significant remains still exist in the form
of burial grounds and dolmens. Over time Antequera would
then becomen Romanised, much more defined, and part of an
excellent road network. Nonetheless, information about the
town of Antikaria is vague and imprecise until the 16th
century.
The Arabs renamed it Medina Antecaria and, as in other places,
opened up a bright, new era of progress which would end
only with the fall of the Omeya dysnaty of Córdoba.
With the reconquest, the town took on enormous strategic
importance, becoming a front´line fortress. As early
as the 16th century, it was already seen as one of the most
important towns in southern Spain. Its greatness was defined
not only in financial and human terms, but could likewise
be seen in the field of culture and the arts. It was at
this point, we might say, that Monumental Antequera was
born; a town of indisputable aristocratic and religious
importance.
Today's Antequera is now going through a phase of considerable
expansion thanks to the modernisation of its agriculture
and the introduction of a dynamic industrial sector which
promises to return this ancient city to the status it deserves.
Crossroads
of cultures.
Antequera is one of those Spanish towns which was destined
to be a crossroads of cultures; a place where mankind, since
time immemorial, has inhabited this broan valley. The first
evidence we encounter of early cultures comes in the perfectly
preserved megalithic tombs of the dolmens of Menga, Viera
and Romeral, dating from 2500, 2000 and 1800 BC.
Roman culture is splendidly represented in the Ephebos of
Antequera, moulded in bronze along Greco-Roman aesthetic
lines, a symbol of beauty and the eternal mixture of peoples
and ways of life. Other remains, too, from Roman times can
be visited, such as those at Singilia Barba, four miles
from the town. Later on the Moors, under the command of
Abdelaziz ben Muza, moved into the plains, driving out the
Goths, and there remain many of the buildings, walls and
fortresses built by the Muslim settlers to protect Medina
Antecaria, which establiched itself as one of the military
border strongholds of Al-Andalus. The Alcazaba and the ancient
gateways to the fortress represent the most prominent evidence
in stone of this era.
 From
the 16th century until the 18th, Antequera experienced its
glory days. It is from this period that the many churches,
chapels, hermitages, convents, manor houses and aristocratic
residences date, and which give the town centre its current
form, scattered throughout with religious sites and symbols.
This is the Antequera of the Baroque Renaissance, as Gerardo
Diego called it "the city of white, rococo churches"
with their ornate plasterwork. There are numerous examples
of this style, but perhaps the most noteworthy are the collegiate
churches of Santa María la Mayor and San Sebastián,
the Convent of the Incarnation, the Palacio de Nájera
(now the Municipal Museum), the Convent of San José,
the Gate of Granada, the Archway of the Giants (built over
an ancient Nazarí gateway)...
The truth is that all Antequera is a living monument, a
vast museum which takes visitors back to prehistoric eras,
to times of cohabitation and conflict between civilisations.
A jigsaw puzzle of civilisations and cultural currents all
merging in a single place. |
