A frontier city par excellence, closer to Granada than to Jaén, it was a strategic enclave in the war against the Nasrid after its conquest in 1341 by Alfonso XI. Previously, it had been for the Muslims, since the time of the Taifa kingdoms (11th century) when the Banu Said family became strong in it. Alfonso XI made Alcalá a Royal Abbey independent of the neighboring dioceses, less than Toledo. This made Alcalá a strong, rich and important place, embedded in the hill of La Mota, where the original city developed until well into the s. XVI. Later it expanded towards the old part, the "Llanillo", where the modern Alcalá is developed.
In La Mota, from where you can see Granada, part of the Córdoba countryside and the entire southern Sierra de Jaén, we have the medieval fortress with an imposing Torre del Homenaje, in which we can see a historical Museum of Alcalá and the abbey church of Santa María, mostly Renaissance work carried out throughout the sixteenth century and part of the following, recently rebuilt; the part of the feet is the oldest and on the contrary the headboard the most modern. The Masters Martín de Bolívar and Ambrosio Vico, responsible for most of the work, reveal the influence of Granada in its construction, but in the end there will be Ginés Martínez de Aranda, a Baezano master based in Castillo de Locubín, and a trusted architect of Abbot Maximiliano of Austria, who In the last decade of the 16th century, he worked on this and other fortification works in Mota itself, before leaving with the Abbot for Cádiz and later on to Santiago de Compostela, where he would design the famous Obradoiro staircase in the cathedral. An antecedent of these small-scale stairs can be seen in the Casas de Cabildo, a classicist building, next to the church.
Descending towards the new city, the old church of Santo Domingo, is the first and oldest, today in ruins, of Gothic design, although with a sacristy from the end of the 16th century, within the Vandelvirian tradition.
A little further down, already in the upper part of the new Alcalá, the church of San Juan Bautista, also dates from the end of the 16th century (the oldest: the Chapel of La Concepción, by Ginés Martínez de Aranda), ending in the century XVII, within the classical severity.
Now, in the heart of the Llanillo ”, the Town Hall Square marks the nerve center of a city laid out with straight streets, presided over by the Cabildo building, a work from the second third of the 18th century, but finished under the neoclassical taste of the Academy. Famous is its Clock, dated 1791, by the famous watchmaker Fernando de Tapia y Castillo. Inside there is a portrait of Fernando VII, by Vicente López; the banner of the city, embroidered, and a series of religious paintings by the local painter Luis de Melgar (18th century) and a “death of the Magdalena”, attributed to Bocanegra.
Next to it, Bordador Street reminds us of the place where the famous sculptor Juan Martinez Montañés was born, of which there is a sculptural monument in the Plaza, the work of Jacinto Higueras.
Placing ourselves in the main artery that runs through “El Llanillo”, the Carrera de las Mercedes, we will find the most important monumental landmarks as well as a set of remarkable historicist houses from the beginning of the 20th century. At the beginning of the street, the Convent of Consolación, at the end of Calle Real that descends from La Mota, houses the image of the patron saint of Alcalá: the Virgen de las Mercedes, in a baroque temple with good altarpieces from the 18th century and a sacristy with a polygonal plan, which, like the old cloister, known as the “Toril”, is the work of Juan de Aranda Salazar.
A little further on, the Convent of the Incarnation, a 17th-century work, of simple construction, but which keeps an interesting artistic collection at its closure, especially of baroque Children Jesus. Next to it, the Abbey Palace, from 1781, a classicist baroque work, typical of that final stage of the 18th century, and much restored since the second half of the 20th century, today houses an interesting Museum of the city.
Upon arriving at the Paseo de los Álamos, where the gateway to the city from Granada was located, we find an exceptional piece of the Renaissance: Pilar de los Álamos, attached to the beginning of the street of its name, whose fantastic reliefs of excellent quality They are related to the sculptural work of the Granada Renaissance, in the line of the Italian Jacopo Florentino and Diego de Siloe.
In front of the pillar, the Church of San Antón, hides in its exterior volume an oval plan, also the result of the classicist baroque that dominated the city in the last third of the 18th century and of which the Church of Las Angustias is also a good example, in the homonymous street, parallel to the main one. This church also keeps part of the Renaissance painting altarpiece of the church of Santo Domingo, the work of the painter Juan Ramirez, and others attributed to the local painter Melchor de Raxis, a descendant of a family of artists who came from Sardinia, and to which another illustrious imaginer would belong. : Pablo de Rojas.
Interesting and recommended is a tour of the eastern edge of the city, from the Hermitage of San Marcos, which preserves part of its 16th century layout, to that of La Verónica, crowning the hill in front of La Mota, with an excellent panoramic view of the fortress and the city.
To recharge our batteries, the gastronomy of Alcalá offers us through its catering offer a good assortment of tapas and unique dishes, among which the “chicken to the secretary” has achieved singular fame.
And among the cultural events that have crossed provincial boundaries, is Etnosur, a festival of music from around the world with an attractive complementary program of recreational and educational activities, which is held in the month of July. Worth seeing is also the Alcalá Holy Week declared of Tourist Interest in Andalusia.
Also very peculiar are in Alcalá la Real its villages, which extend in a nearby radius around five or ten kilometers, of great scenic beauty and even with monumental pieces worthy of review, such as Santa Ana, with its 16th century church with a siloesque portal, or La Pedriza, with a good baroque altarpiece.
We can spend the night both in Alcalá and in one of the rural accommodations that these surrounding villages offer us before embarking on the return trip to Jaén or continuing the visit in Alcalá.
The return will take us through the wild Sierra Sur de Jaén, another "natural paradise", this less known one, in which we will find those villas that were colonization settlements in the 16th century, after the war with the Nasrid to repopulate this border line.
We can take the path from Santa Ana towards Frailes or leaving Alcalá on the A-403 and at the height of the village of Ribera Baja, take the detour, JV-4302, which leads to Frailes, passing by the villages of Ribera Baja and Ribera Alta.
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