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ALOZAINA -
MAIN MONUMENTS
El Albar Aqueduct and Fountain -
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The source of El Albar and its pipwork to
the fountain of the same name through an
aqueduct that runs along the path of
Castejón or Alozaina to El Albar is a
hydraulic work that forms part of the
complex of Los Peñones, an arqueological
centre of significant relevance that
demonstrates human settlement tby way of an
extensive necropolis of tombs excavated from
the rocks and a place of worship also cut
into the rock.
Some remains of this ancient aqueduct from
the El Albar area are still there today,
along which the water used to flow from the
springs in the Sierrathus providing the
water supply for the village. The aqueduct
carried the water to a tank situated
opposite the church where water was sold up
until 1930. The final section is made of a
large arch over the Pasadilla river bed,
which carries water to a fountain dating
from medieval times, characterised by a
large trough for cattle to drink from. The
water was used in the Wash House.
ALOZAINA ARCH
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During the course of the Middle Ages, the
current populated areas took their form,
governed by the Almoavids, Almohades and
finally, the Nazares. All of these left
their mark on the castles, town structures,
types of houses, the sewers and reservoirs,
terraces and many other elements that are
now signs of the identity of these people.
This large series of three stone arches in
the form of a horsehoe and a central arch
that is larger than the other two, was built
around the middle of the 20th century to
commemorate the Arabic past of the village,
and became an entrance gateway to the
village, leading to an eminently Muslim town
layout, especially in its oldest parts.
These streets are sloped, narrow and
laberinth-like, sometimes ending in
cul-de-sacs, with dazzling white walls and
hidden corners, dominated by brilliantly
coloured flowers.
In the old sections of the village, the
traditional houses still dominate. On the
one hand the more stately ones, generally
built in squares or main streets, of two or
three floors and with wide entrances and
windows and balconies with decorative
lattices. On the other hand, there are the
more humble dwellings, no higher than 2
floors neither of which are very high.
Noticeable are the small windows, the
purpose of which, together with the thick
walls, was to keep the house insulated
against heat and cold.
Beside these old houses there are also small
monuments or some ruins to be seen, relics
from a long history.
Parish Church of Santa Ana
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This parish was founded in 1505 and
confirmed as an annex of Casarabonela in
1510. Nonetheless, the parish church in the
upper part of the village dates back to
1578.
In 1605 it required significant
reconstruction of its ceilings, floors,
tower stairs and vestry, finished by the
mason, Jerónimo Hernández, following the
instructions of Pedro Díaz de Palacios,
maestro of Malaga Cathedral.
The current church was built in the 18th
century on the site of the original one and
possibly partially incorporating this. It
was carried out by Felipe Pérez the younger,
an master architect, between 1770 and 1774.
This temple is in the form of a latin cross
with a wooden roof including in the
transept, and at the foot of this there is a
small gallery over a diminished arch. Within
the angles that form the arms of the cross
with the nave there are two square chapels
covered with a cross vault, opening to
polygonal shrines, one of them with remains
of carved plasterwork. Its upper part is
reinforced with an external wall round it
leaving a small corridor between them.
The outside is of masonry plaster with an
arch at its main entrance, between boxed
pilasters supporting a panel of tiles that
commemorate the reconquest of the village in
1484. The side entrance presents a simpler
composition with boxed sides. The tiles of
this commemoration refer to the village
being turned into a parish in 1622, since
before this it was a dependent of
Casarabonela. These commemorative tiles as
well as a large part of the church largely
reflect the restoration work carried out in
1953; by the time the war ended it had been
completely destroyed.
The tower stands next to the transept,
square in shape, solid and undecorated, with
the exception of the octagonal bell tower
with a pyramid-shaped roof and is open on
its four main sides with arches, whilst the
others are lined with a fine strip open in
the middle with an oculo which rises from
the base of a large corbel crowned with a
decorative element to mark the transition
from the square to the octagonal.
Hoyo de los Peñones Necropolis and Mozarabic
Hermitage
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With the arrival of the Muslims in the 18th
century the Sierra de las Nieves experienced
a period of development. In many cases the
settlers occupied the land peacefully,
establishing a coexistance with the original
Christian and Mozarabic settlers. The stone
church and the necropolis of the Hoyo de los
Peñones in Alozaina are an example of the
culture of the latter.
This important Mozarabic complex consists of
a room and a half stone-built church
originally used by hermits and associated
with a necropolis in the village of El
Albar, dating back to the 9th and 10th
centuries. The living space, dug into a crag
of rock, is assumed to be the cell of the
hermit that took care of the church. It has
four vaulted niches carved into the rock.
The South face of the crag served as the
apse of the nave of the church, of which
there remain only parts of the floor. The
necropolis, located in an area very close to
the church, has one hundred and twenty-one
tombs carved out of the rock.
AREA OF ARDITE
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Cerro Ardite, rooted in the history of the
Rio Grande basin, is without doubt the most
important archeogical site in the whole
Sierra de las Nieves district and is also
unique from an ecological point of view and
for its landscape. It contains traces of
every period right through history, from the
Prehistoric to the present day, in a
succession of settlements: prehistoric
inhabitants, Iberians, Pheonicians, Romans,
Arabs and Castillian Spanish.
The following evidence has been found from
Prehistoric times:
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A lithic
workshop in El Garrotal,
situated in the Cortijo de
los Frailes and used in
different stages of
Prehistory, from the
Paeliotic to the Bronze Age.
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A
Neolithic settlement in El
Charcón, approximately 6000
years old.
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Two
Megalithic dolmens or tombs
of particular relevance; one
on the Cuesta de los
Almendrillos, which provided
a large amount of materials
during its excavation and
with a relative chronology
of 5000 years; and the one
from the Tesorillo de la
Llaná, a very significant
structure, formed with an
access corridor, an oval
entrance hallway and a
circular chamber. The date
of construction coincides
with that of the Cuesta de
los Almendrillos but it was
later re-used as a secondary
burial place during the
Bronze Age.
There are not many in-depth studies of these
periods. We know that the Phoenicians and
the Greeks traded with the Iberians, who
settled in hills of a certain geographic
form in order to be better able to control
their territory. Numerous villae remain from
the Roman period; country houses spread out
over the fertile Ardite land. The Arab
dominiation left behind a vigil tower or
maybe a small “Hins”, whose importance
resides in the fact that this area is
located in a strategic position for
communications between the ancient mediaeval
fortresses that surround it.
In terms of the landscape, the Cerro Ardite
stands out due to its dominance over the Rio
Grande riverbasin and for its geomorphology,
which includes a series of limestone
stratum. There is a considerable amount of
thermomediterranean vegetation in the areas
which are not used for agriculture, which is
what is present up to an altitude of 400
metres in areas with Meditterrenean climate.
Different species of bush and shrub
predominate in this area along with holm
oaks, carob trees, wild olives, mastics,
dwarf palms, rockroses and broom. If we take
into account all of thse characteristics:
strategic position, permanent water source,
vegetation bearing fruit and attracting
animals and ideal farming soil we can see
the fundamental reason for the presence of
human settlements since Prehistoric times.
Ardite is therefore a place that must be
conserved in order for us to gain a better
understanding of history, as well as to
enjoy its rich ecology and lanscape.
CASTLE MIRADOR PARK
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The Castle is first mentioned
during the Nazarene period.
Christain chronicles speak of
its surrender in 1484 and it was
the Christians who repopulated
it after the Moorish rebellion
around 1568.
In an attempt to repair the old
fortress, a new fortified
precinct was built, with
battlements and towers the
materials of which do not match
the original build. This is what
is now referred to as Mirador
Park and offers views over the
whole of Malaga.
The Maria Sagredo Tower
is all that is left of the castle,
incorporated into the walls of a house.
On the 16th of July, 1570, a troop of 600
men lead by El Yebali and Lorenzo Alfaqui
dressed as Spaniiards and marched against
the village to take it from its 80
inhabitants. They began the assault in
squadrons of eight lines with six horses in
the flanks, as if on business for the King.
There were only 8 men in the village who
were able to defend themselves. The women,
dressed as men to trick the assailants, took
up arms and climbed first the belltower to
ring the bell then up to the castle in order
to defend it. The castle was attacked three
times, and three times resisted the
assaults, and the attempt resulted in
seventeen dead and seventy injured for the
Moors. When Maria Sagredo saw her father
injured she pushed through the hoard,
climbed to the top of a large tower and
bravely defended it, killing one Moor and
injuring many others with her arrows. The
Moors saw the resistance and perseverance of
these people who would rather die than
surrender, and retreated, setting fire to
thirty houses, kidnapping four girls and
stealing 3000 heads of cattle along the way.
Maria
Sagredo Tower
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“Here I would like to
mention the courage of a young Maiden called
María Sagredo who, on seeing her father
Martín Domínguez killed by a gunshot from a
Moor, took the cape that he had been wearing
and putting on a helmet, with a crossbow in
her hands and a quiver on her back she
climbed the wall, fighting with the strength
of a valiant soldier, killed one Moor and
wounded many others and did so much that day
that the Council of his Majesty rewarded her
with some Moorish estates in Tolox for her
marriage”.
This is how the story of
Maria Sagredo is narrated by Luis del Mármol
Carvajal at the end of the XVI century, a
singular heroine who defended Alozaina from
an attempted assault during the Moorish
rebellion led by the Zebalí in 1570, when
only women, children and elderly people
remained in the village. But the legend goes
further than historic documentation and
maintains that this brave woman saw that the
village was in danger and threw beehives
from the castle’s battlements at the Moors
that were attacking it. Faced with swarms of
bees they were forced to retreat, shouting
and cursing the “flies of the land”.
The tower you can see is
most of what remains of the old castle; it
stands out from the walls of the structure
and is integrated into the houses around it.
It is composed of large blocks of stone
which have been carved on the outside.
JOROX VALLEY
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In the Sierra de las
Nieves, the first evidence of the presence
of man dates back more than 30,000 years,
still under the effect of the last glacial
period and the cold dominated the area,
forcing man to seek refuge in the caves.
Populated
since Paleolithic times, as
demonstrated by remains found in
several of the caves in the
area, such as that of Tajo de
Jorox, this idillic valley owes
its splendour to the water
source that later becomes the
river of the same name.
The water
from this spring was distributed
by a complete network of
aqueducts of Arab origen, in
order to be used as a driving
force for a total of nine former
windmills, as well as for the
irrigation of the fertile banks
that are home to rich and
abundant orchards.
Although
these nine flour mills that
exist next to the Jorox riverbed
no longer serve their original
purpose, some of them are still
in good condition.
In the
village itself, the things that
are most worthy of mention are
the Chapel of the Veracruz (the
True Cross) and the high plateau
known as La Mesa, places of
pilgrimage for the first of May
celebrations. The caves, the
Source and the Charco de la
Caldera, a local water spot, are
natural emblems of this
beautiful, unrivalled landscape.
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