Property & Real Estate
This small town 24km east of Osuna
is famous for two very different reasons. Chiefly it is renowned
for the biscuits known as polvorones and mantecados which it bakers
make each Christmas and which are eaten across this region of Andalucía.
Its other claim to fame is a grisly mass suicide 2,200 years ago,
when in 208 BCE Roman invaders found that the entire population
of what was then a small but important outpost of Carthage had torched
their homes and killed themselves rather than be overrun by the
Romans.
The Romans re-populated the town
from their settlements elsewhere in the region and called it Ostipo,
although they themselves were ejected by Visigoths from the Baltic
regions four centuries later. In the eighth century, the Moorish
armies who had invaded the south-western tip of the region in 711
CE took the town and renamed it Istabba. The Arabs renovated an
abandoned pre-Roman castle at the top of the San Cristobal hill
on which the town sits, and began fortifying it against the incursions
during the Reconquest. Shifts in power between various caliphates
saw it fall under the control of various caliphs, including the
kingdoms of both Granada and Sevilla. The renowned poet Al Zawwali
lived here before returning to Marrakech in 1220 shortly before
his death.
Estepa, as it would be rechristened,
was taken quite early in the Reconquest, by King Fernando III, 'The
Saint', in 1241, but was the subject of regular attacks from Granada,
which would not fall to the Christians until 1492.
Life in the town stabilised following the Conquest, and like its
larger neighbour Osuna, which it resembles in part, Estepa settled
into comfortable wealth in this prime agricultural region of Andalucía,
a wealth made apparent by the number of fine mansions in the town
centre. As the town expanded, downhill from the castle, it effectively
departed the protective bailey, leaving the San Cristobal hill and
fortifications abandoned.
Like westerly Olvera, Estepa's fortunes
took an unexpected turn in the early 19th century, when the consequences
of successive wars and economic downturn transformed Estepa into
a haven for the bandoleros, or bandits, who haunted the mountains
and often made outrageous forays into the towns and villages. Most
notorious was José Maria Hinojosa Cabacho, 'El Tempranillo',
who once issued what was in effect a press statement saying that
while the King may well rule Spain, he, Tempranillo, ruled the mountains.
Infamous names such as Juan Caballero, El Vivillo and El Pernales
were also regular visitors. The bandoleros were dealt with in brutal
reprisals.
In 1886, queen Maria Cristina honoured
the town with the title of City by Royal Disposition, a sign of
its status in the region.
Palacio de los Marqueses de
Cerverales
Estepa's architectural star is undoubtedly
the 18th century Palacio de los Marqueses de Cerverales, officially
declared a National Historic Artistic Monument in 1984.
Completed in 1756 by the first Marquis
of Cerverales, Manuel Bejarano y Campañón, it boasts
a handsome Baroque façade with spiral Solomon columns, and
in the interior a typical open courtyard.
Also in the centre, at the corner
of calles Amargura and Castillejos, there are the tumbledown ruins
of another 18th century mansion, with an exquisitely-worked Baroque
wrought iron balcony and echoes of earlier, Arabic and Visigothic,
styles in its arches.
The Archaeological Museum
The archaeological museum, the Museo
Padre Martín Recio (calle Ancha 14), has a collection of
local finds dating back to the Paleolithic period, and religious
artefacts from Roman, Visigothic, Arabic and later cultures, including
an intriguing Roman 'hypnos', or statue of the god of sleep.
The building itself was built in
1636 as a school, was converted into a prison in 1702 and in the
early 20th century reverted to a school run by a local religious
order. We wonder what the pupils thought of its history?
The central Plaza El Carmen
The central Plaza El Carmen was
as the name suggests built in honour of the Virgin Carmen. It was
expanded in 1745 to accommodate a plaza de toros, bullring. Spain's
shifting political fortunes have seen it baptised with various names
over the centuries: Constitution Square, Royal Square, Republic
Square, Generalísimo (General Franco) Square among them.
It's more commonly known to townsfolk as 'el salón', 'the
lounge', and the place where many of them congregate under the shade
of its trees and in the cool from its central fountain.
The City Walls
The city walls that still surrounding
the old town on the San Cristobal hill were first built in the 10th
century by the Moors, renovated by Almohad invaders in the 12th,
and again reconstructed when Estepa fell to the Christian Order
of Santiago in the 13th. The keep inside the walls was built against
attacks from Granada in the 14th century, and at 26 metres at its
highest offers sweeping views of the town and surrounding countryside.
The old town also conceals a number
of notable religious buildings. Franciscan monks built a convent
in the north-east corner of the hill in 1603, and the convent, its
church and house of novitiates still stand. The proto-Baroque façade
of the church features a single body with a round arch and pediment
split with pinnacles. The tower is 22m high and topped by an impressive
belfry and spire.
Convent of Santa Clara
Behind the church of Santa Maria
is the Baroque convent of Santa Clara, built by two of the local
marqueses and the Franciscans. A central niche contains a sculpture
of Santa Clara, and around it the coats of arms of the two families,
the Centurión and Fernández de Córdoba families,
as well as the coat of arms of the Franciscan Order. The opulent
interior features a single nave with barrelled vault supported by
arches, with an onion-shaped dome above scalloped details over the
altar. The altar itself was built by Pedro Ruiz de Paniagua, funded
by monies owed the marqueses by King Charles V.
Inbetween the squares of San Sebastian
and Nuestro Padre Jesús is a small hermitage dedicated to
Saint Sebastian, rebuilt in 1568 by Genoese architect Vicente Boyol.
The present church has doors into both squares, Renaissance in style,
but flanked by hefty Gothic buttresses.
Culture
Estepa smells like a cake factory in the run-up to Christmas, as
local bakers and even home cooks work to meet the demand for its
favourite icing-covered polvorone biscuits. Some bakeries allow
visitors to observe the baking process, and there is a small museum
to the history of Estepa's biscuit tradition in the La Estepeña
biscuit factory.
The town has a number of unique festivals:
The Candelaria
On February 2 large bonfires are lit to celebrate the Candelaria
and to warm people observing the night-long religious vigil.
Romeria de San José Obrero
On May 1 the town celebrates the local Romeria (procession) de San
José Obrero, when townspeople in traditional garb walk to
the nearby hermitage of Santa Ana.
Roya
On the third Sunday of every May, the neighbourhood known as the
Octava (eighth) de los Remedios celebrates its own festival around
calle Roya.
La Velá de Santa Ana
La Velá (candle) de Santa Ana religious festival has been
celebrated around July 26 in the barrio, neighbourhood, of La Coracha
since before the 18th century.
The fiesta of Our Lady of La Asunción
Estepa's main summer fair, is celebrated on August 15. Finally,
around feria time, Our Lady of Carmel sees a procession of people
carrying torches and flares along calle La Puente and environs.
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