Iznájar
Iznájar
Municipality belonging to the Sierras Subbéticas, in the south of the province, on the border with the provinces of Granada and Málaga. Its municipal district is formed by extensive undulating fields of olive trees and mountain ranges, and is included in the Natural Park of the Sierra Subbetica, which presents a relief of strong limestone elevations and valleys populated by oak and gall oak groves and white poplars on the banks of the watercourses.
The village, located on a hill overlooking the great reservoir of Iznájar on the Genil, is a huddled nucleus of narrow, winding streets and sloping white houses that seems to hang over the water, forming a picture of great beauty and typical. The Castle, located in the high part, is the perfect element to complete the singular set.
History
The population was called by the Arabs Hins Ashar (stone castle), which may give us a clue to its foundation in the vicinity of the eighth century (the founder is considered to Fald ben Salama). During the late Middle Ages, being a border between the kingdom of Granada and the surrounding Christians, it will change hands alternately.
In the 12th century, according to al-Idrisi, it had a large population and a busy market.
The last capture of the city by Christian troops was in 1431, under the reign of John II.
After the dynastic struggles between Henry IV and the Infante Alfonso, in 1466, the town became dependent on Diego Fernandez de Cordoba, Lord of Baena and Count of Cabra, along with the towns of Rute and Zambra.
In the 19th century, Iznájar was the cradle of the most important support bases for the uprising led by the albéitar of Loja, Rafael Pérez del Alamo (in other sources Pérez del Llano), thus beginning a great popular uprising, the first of what Díaz del Moral called "indigenous socialism".
Prominent personalities
Julio Burell, minister.
Cristobal de Castro, writer and journalist (1874-1953).
The castle of Iznájar gave its name to the town, an obligatory reference of its image and its urban conformation. Prototype of an Arab "hisn" to have the characteristics of the rocky castles of Islamic descent, which were located at the highest point of the space to defend. The northern and northeastern slopes of the promontory are steep acting as a natural wall, the rest has a smoother profile that has allowed the settlement of the hamlet.
Traditionally it has been considered the totality of this space of emiral epoch, from the middle of the VIII century, being reformed in the X century, although the last works of investigation date it in the XII century. It was remodeled in the 18th century to be used as a house for the administrator of the Duke of Sessa, a function it maintained until the beginning of the 20th century. After years of abandonment, it was acquired from its last owners (the Count of the Revilla and brothers) by the City Council of Iznájar in 1991.
The Sierras Subbéticas, included in the European and World Geoparks network and endorsed by Unesco since 2006 due to its geological interest, emerged from the seabed during the Alpine folding. Thus, in the traces of its relief the most beautiful history of the earth in its last 250 million years is narrated;... man, eager to leave a mark in so much history, has inserted wedges of green liquid gold: olive oil.
The massif, apparently, rises like a gigantic and impregnable mountainous mass that is surrounded by the plains of Priego and Alcaudete, the Antequera valley and the Cordoba countryside. But the water, by dissolving the limestone rock that forms it, has been modeling reliefs at will, creating peaks, ridges and canyons, such as those of Sierra Horconera (Rute) and Gallinera (Carcabuey); sinkholes -the Cortijo de la Majada or Los Hoyones-; fertile navas as the poljé de la Nava; grooves, furrows and ridges -lapiaz de Los Lanchares-; and, when the liquid element seeps into the bowels of the mountain, it gives rise to chasms and galleries -simas de Cabra and Sierra Gallinera, caves of Los Murciélagos and del Fraile, gorges and canyons such as the Bailón river-, and finally springs and fountains, such as the splendid del Rey in Priego and del Río in Cabra.
Fauna and flora
The riverbeds exhibit exuberant vegetation of elm, ash and poplar trees that shelter crayfish and the Cabrera shrew, a small shrew that in the province is only present in these waters. As one ascends, the sunshine will determine a landscape with stunted plants, habitat of the mountain goat, while in the shade there are patches of oak and gall oak, and an undergrowth of hawthorn and cornicabra that allow the existence of a good number of birds -blue treecreeper, crossbill or chaffinch-. The colonies of mosses, lichens and fungi dominate in this area, whose importance and diversity has led to the creation of a mycological garden in the village of Zagrilla in Priego. The highest ridges are colonized by plants of thorny and cushiony growth, such as the fine piornos and the blue piorno. Rare species such as the rare orchid Orchis ustulata and the liliaceous Allium reconditum are usually found in the crevices. At these heights we find the most interesting plant species, some of them endemic to these mountains, such as Festuca cordubensis, Hypochaeris rutea, Melica bocqueti, Mercudera androcymbioides and Narcissus bugei or St. Joseph's flower. This is the ideal place for rupicolous birds, such as griffon vultures, golden and Bonelli's eagles, peregrine falcons and eagle owls.
The Ermita de la Antigua or Santuario de la Piedad is located in the municipality of Iznájar, with a beautiful view of the so-called 'Lake of Andalusia'. The sanctuary consists of a vaulted nave and a splendid baroque chapel that closes at the head.
The building houses the patron saint, the Virgin of Mercy, the most interesting and oldest image of Iznájar, from the mid-fifteenth century and attributed to a disciple of Lorenzo de Mercader.
On the other hand, the chapel has artistic baroque altarpieces and interesting images of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, of Granada descent. This is the case of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno.
In the Ermita de la Antigua or Santuario de la Piedad, every September 8, the festivity of the Nativity of Our Lady is celebrated. In pilgrimage, thousands of devotees come from all over the region and neighboring towns in the province of Granada, who accompany the image in its journey through the streets of the town. There are still people who do it barefoot and others who carry several large candles, and is that formerly the devotees fulfilled their promises by giving Our Lady their weight in wax.