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Estepa,
Sevilla
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Location |
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Local Information |
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Ayuntamiento de
Estepa
Avenida Badía Polesine, 28
41560 Estepa,
Sevilla
Telephone: 955-912-717
http://www.estepa.com/ |
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About The Area |
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This ancient town of 14,000 24km
east of Osuna is famous for its renowned biscuits
known as mantecados and polvorones which its bakers
make each Christmas and which are eaten across this
region of Andalucia. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 Andalucia, 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. |
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As the town expanded, downhill from
the castle, it effectively departed the protective
bailey, leaving the San Cristobal hill and
fortifications abandoned. |
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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. |
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In 1886, queen Maria Cristina
honoured the town with the title of City by Royal
Disposition, a sign of its status in the
region. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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? |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
In between 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. |
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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. |
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The town has a number of unique
festivals. On February 2 large bonfires are lit to
celebrate the Candelaria and to warm people observing
the night-long religious vigil. 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. |
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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 (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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