If there is an element that characterizes Setenil de las Bodegas, it is undoubtedly the framework urban, a white farmhouse literally embedded in the canyon of the Guadalporcún River, the true architect of Setenil de las Bodegas.
In the northern limit of the province of Cádiz, on the route of the White Villages, Setenil de las Bodegas leaves no one indifferent, for the importance of its artistic heritage, the rustic beauty of its popular architecture, and above all for the uniqueness of its cave streets. Always parallel to the river, Cuevas del Sol and its sister the Cuevas de la Sombra, Soap and Cabrerizas (real and fictional bandit adventure scenarios), Calcetas, Calañas and Smithy, one of the most beautiful streets in Andalusia, as defined by some writer.
These streets define the troglodytic habitat of a town that makes the white of its facades and the ocher of the stone its hallmarks.
Because the cave streets of Setenil have been living stone, an outdoor geology lesson but also roof and home since prehistoric times, humanized rock where the soot stains of chimneys and chimneys and the traces of lime of its former inhabitants still persist.
Walking through these streets -cave under these ancient stones is a sensation that takes us into an unreal world halfway between mineral chemistry and romantic literature, because only in Setenil de las Bodegas can you walk in the rain without getting wet, Or soak up filtered water when it hasn't rained for days.
Nothing like this poetry by Gerardo Diego to describe this strange relationship:
"Setenil de las Bodegas,
where the sky is from Roca,
and the silence of a pickaxe dream "
Located on the highest part of the slope, on the outskirts of the town, It constitutes the first Christian building in Setenil after being conquered at the end of the 15th century by the Catholic Monarchs.. Of late-gothic Spanish style and small dimensions, Its origin seems to come from the portable tents dedicated to sacred space that were established during the long campaigns and sieges in the military camps.. A popular legend has it that the dedication under which the hermitage is placed is due to the fact that, during the siege of Setenil, Queen Elizabeth gave birth to a premature son who died a few hours after he was born and whom she baptized as Sebastián, in what would be one of the first military hospitals in history. The Procession of Silence leaves this hermitage at Easter, one of the oldest in Spain.
The temple, that is confused between the labyrinthine layout of the Setenilian urban center, had its last construction phase in the 18th century. Its structure, square plan, with whitewashed walls and marble floors, features a classically inspired façade culminated by a bell belfry. Inside, the main altar is opened, in which is the image of Father Jesús Nazareno, holder of the Black Brotherhood and one of the most revered carvings of Setenil de las Bodegas.
This rectangular-plan property, built in the early 16th century, It houses a rich Mudejar coffered ceiling with a pair and knuckle in whose lower band can be read a commemorative inscription on the date that Setenil was conquered by the Catholic Monarchs on 21 September 1484, Saint Matthew the Apostle Day, being the only example of these characteristics that is conserved in the province.
The keep, square base and irregular masonry, It is the most striking and prominent example of the ancient Almohad fortress that from the 12th century surrounded the rock of Setenil and that required several assaults until it could finally be conquered in 1484 by the troops of the Catholic Monarchs. Next to it is the Aljibe, an underground construction excavated in the rock that provided the water supply to the fortress, of which the poets said that "only eagles could carry it in their claws".
Late gothic style, the parish church of Setenil de las Bodegas was built over the town's main mosque with the patronage of the Catholic Monarchs after the conquest of this Muslim stronghold. The works began between the last years of the 15th century and the first decade of the 16th, although they were not concluded until 1614, due to lack of funding preventing completion of the ambitious initial single-ship project. This long period of construction owes the syncretism of styles of the unfinished church, ranging from early Mudejar to Gothic, with some renaissance reminiscence. The most notable element inside is the Altarpiece of the Annunciation, with an iconography based on scenes from the childhood of Christ painted on three bodies at the end of the 15th century. From this temple procession the Brotherhood of Santa Vera Cruz -Los Blancos- in Holy Week in Seville, whose owner is the Cristo de la Vera + Cruz.
The building houses a museum collection that traces the history of Setenil through different archaeological elements found during the excavations carried out in the town.. The most significant piece is, undoubtedly, The Little Lady of Setenil, a five thousand year old Venus found in the Las Calcetas excavations in 1997, figurative symbol that accredits life in caves since prehistoric times.
The name of this site comes from the structures excavated in the rock whose military functionality was based on obtaining water from a well during the continuous sieges that the town suffered.. It was part of the formidable wall that surrounded the town, that came to have twenty-seven towers, in what was the first urban settlement of Setenil after the fall of the Roman city of Acinipo in the 3rd century.
Given its prominent location on the rock of the Cerrillo neighborhood, This building dating from the 18th century is one of the most emblematic of Setenil. At the end of his only ship, with simple decoration and small niches, highlights the main altarpiece dedicated to Our Lady of Carmen, patron saint of the town and seafaring dedication that tells the stories of the Indians who returned from America to their town.
Located in the municipality of Ronda, It is the ruins of an ancient city that had its heyday during the Roman period, at the end of the 1st century AD. The Acinipo Theater is the best preserved element of the site, a monument that is closely linked to the Setenilian identity, locality from which the distances to visit it are shorter and the accesses are more comfortable, finding himself alone 9,6 km by car through the highways CA-4223 and MA-7402, already 10,14 km if you walk, through the route called Los Bandoleros.
Jabonería and Cabrerizas streets represent some of the most unique streets in Setenil, with a layout that has been adapted to the course of the river, opening to it on one of its margins and treasuring multiple cave houses on the other. They are streets example of the popular architecture of Setenil, characterized by the presence of troglodytic houses born in the shelter of the rocks, of one or two interior bodies and no more than two heights, acting the natural roofing rock itself.
A movie street, spectacular setting of the adventures of Curro Jiménez.
A movie street, spectacular setting of the adventures of Curro Jiménez.
They are two of the most typical streets of Setenil. Cuevas del Sol street, open to the south, it is the one that receives the most light on the facades of its cave houses, built on natural cavities used as houses under the rocks of the canyon. The street of the Shadow Caves, for his part, offers a very different picture, in which the sky is replaced by the rock suspended between the two rows of whitewashed facades that flank it. Both maintain an internal microclimate that makes them warm during the cold winter and cool during the festival season..
All light under the stone, the most touristy street. Here there are numerous bars and restaurants, where to taste the succulent cuisine of Setenil in a most picturesque setting.
Spectacular street where an impressive natural limestone rock roof submerges us in a tunnel that shelters houses and lively tapas bars.
All light under the stone, the most touristy street. Here there are numerous bars and restaurants, where to taste the succulent cuisine of Setenil in a most picturesque setting.
Spectacular street where an impressive natural limestone rock roof submerges us in a tunnel that shelters houses and lively tapas bars.
They represent a river area of great ecological appeal, ethnographic and playful, that connects the river with the town, running between pits and cave houses in perfect condition. These represent the habitat for centuries in these places under the protection of the rocks.
From the river to the center, a beautiful street under the Arab wall. Place where the Lady of Setenil was found, a venus with 5.000 years that antiquity that testifies to life in caves since Prehistory.
One of the most beautiful and romantic Andalusian streets, with his "Bésame en
this corner "
this corner "
