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.
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 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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
