Culturally significant landscapes in Jaén

Route: 🌍,  JA 3210 ,  JV 2222 , 🌍, (16.6 km (10.3 mi) - 30 min.)

The canyon gouged out by the Quiebrajano River to the south of the city of Jaén makes its way through a land with mountains and sheer rock faces until it reaches the reservoir of the same name. It forms a natural pass between the Jaén and Pago de las Cimbras Mountains to the west and the Propios Mountains, to the east. The canyon plunges to depths of 200 m and its sheer sides are covered in caves and caverns. The uneven escarpments form vertical, narrow landscapes in which the grey and green of the pines dominate; the maritime pines stand out on the rocky slopes although holm oaks and Mediterranean shrub are studded around the exposed sides and high plateaux.

Differential erosion produces chalky, needle-like structures on the valley floor, complementary vertical forms that have been exploited to create a strategic location looking over the valley pass, Otíñar Castle. Its location near the city of Jaén and on the Old Road to Granada afforded Otíñar a major role in the defence of the Castile-Al Andalus border between the 13th and the 15th centuries, and it is this that gives a special meaning to the landscape thanks to the striking image of the fortress. Notwithstanding, Otíñar brings together a set of diachronic activities and cultural expressions that range from prehistoric cave paintings on rock walls to farming since the mediaeval period. The town of Santa Cristina, which was inhabited between 1824 and 1970, sustained the forestry and agriculture in the grasslands and the livestock farming in the mountains to the south of Jaén.

🌍 Castle of Otiñar Built in ashlar masonry. It stands out for its construction adapting to the relief of the mountain in which it is located. It preserves a tower of homage with two floors, whose rooms have barrel vaults. Inside the walled enclosure there are remains of three towers and a church.

In the area there are also important archaeological sites that cannot be visited, such as:

• Otiñar.  In this valley there is: a cave with Neolithic occupation; a Neolithic fortified settlement with a dolmen necropolis; 15 caves and shelters with cave paintings and engravings; a flint quarry; a Roman villa; a walled Islamic village; a watchtower; a 14th-century castle; a medieval Christian village; an 18th-century memorial; and a colonisation village from the early 19th century.

• Village of Otiñar.  Remains of a medieval village and chapel next to the castle of Otíñar.

• Hill of los Bastiones.  Remains of a dolmen.
• Villa del Laurel.  Site with archaeological remains of ceramic and constructive type, there are also hydraulic remains.

Route: 🌍,   ,  JA-3209 ,  J-14 ,  N-323a ,  A-6001 ,  A-316 ,  A-320 ,  JA-3116  (scenic road),  JA 3104 ,  JA 3107  (scenic road), 🌍, (59.2 km (36.8 mi) - 1 hr 19 min.)

The Mágina Mountains form an isolated massif that is part of the inland pre-Baetic system. Rising to the south of the Baetic range, they are surrounded by lower peaks that shape the transition from the Guadalquivir valley and the inland pre-Baetic Mágina Mountains to the intermediate domains of areas such as the smaller Serrezuela de Bedmar range. Olive groves reach from the northern plains down to the northern face of the Mágina Mountains, following the courses of the Albanchez stream and the Bedmar River. They scale the mountainsides and traverse the rock formations that form the peaks of the hills and down the sides of the gaps to make use of almost all the arable land. The towns of Torres and Albanchez de Mágina are located in the connection between the slopes and the peaks, where the rock allows the construction of defences that, thanks to the commanding view over the northern side of the mountains, were strategically placed to watch over the border with the Nasrid Kingdom. Thus, the most striking features of this cultural landscape today are its defensive role and the perpetuation of an economic system based on intensive farming of the environment, today a wide expanse of olive trees.

The close rapport with the environment is also reflected in the important role played by mountain produce during festive periods: burning torches (made out of esparto grass and resin), bonfires made of firewood and olive branches, and wheat during the celebrations of the area's patron saint in the month of May; garlands (made from flowers, branches, vine shoots and thistles) on the feast of St. John, and bulrush seeds on Carnival Sunday.

The following locations stand out in the area:

🌍 Castle of Albanchez de Mágina It is a castle with a triangular courtyard of which two towers remain.

🌍 Parish Church of Nuestra Señora de La Asunción It is a church of rectangular plan with three naves separated by columns of Tuscan order and a woody roof of pair and knuckle to two waters. The front is characterized by an ashlar facade with an entablature as a frame reminiscent of an alfiz, a semicircular arch with keystone highlighted in acanthus leaf, on impostado jamb. At the height of the chancel there is a belfry with three openings.

🌍 Marqueses de Camarasa's house House of the 16th century distributed in two floors. The main doorway is made of stone, with a semicircular opening topped by a keystone with acanthus reliefs. On both sides it is flanked by pilasters on which rests a cornice with a plaque with the date of construction of the building. The facade is topped by an eave that on the right side shows the head of an angel.

In the area there are also important archaeological sites that cannot be visited, such as:

• Cave of Aznaitín.  It is a group of cave paintings in the limit of the Natural Park of Sierra Mágina.
• Cave of Morrón.  It is a cave with two rooms in which two caprids are painted, one in red and the other in black.
• Majada Hinojosa.  Several structures are preserved, some in mortar and lime and others of irregular rigging. The most outstanding is a cistern of medieval origin, a subway shelter and numerous ceramic and skeletal remains.
• El Campanil.  Formed by remains of structures, tombs, coins and ceramics, the most remarkable being the tombstone of a tomb with an inscription.
• Oil mil of Alhorí I.  The house has an irregular floor plan with three floors, each one dedicated to a different function. Due to the irregularity of the terrain in which it is located, the house has numerous stairs and steps with different levels in the different rooms of the house, being a common solution in the houses of this area of the mountains.

Routeː 🌍,  Road from Bedmar to Albanchez towards A-32 ,  A-320 ,  A-401 ,  A-322 ,  Road from Huesa to Belarda towards JA-7200 ,  A-6206  (scenic road),  Road to Quesada , , (88.4 km (54.9 mi) - 2 hr 28 min.)

The place traditionally recognised as the source of the Guadalquivir River boasts a landscape that is characteristic of mid-sized mountains, with villages on the valley floors and mountainsides, and forest vegetation of holm oaks, oaks and pines — planted after timber exploitation had deforested the area — with bare rock on most of the peaks. The river first emerges internally, discretely, flowing along humble streams, with no spectacular cascades or springs, as if the mountain were intimately giving birth, a calm flow, serene and sluggish as if not wishing to escape from inside the mountains to encounter its geological masterwork, the broad valley that bears its name. This landscape is in a well-preserved natural area with poor access. The nearest towns are on the edge of the mountain area, on the perimeter belt road that links Cazorla with Quesada, Huesa, Hinojales, Pozo Alcón and Castril.

Due to the limited human activity in the immediate area, there are no physical cultural vestiges apart from the tracks left by some old roadways and the minimal adaptation of the place due to its lack of appeal. The road network is used by people who engage in sporting and leisure activities. These have brought new types of economic growth associated with the development of tourism, which is seeking to spotlight the cultural value of the historical and symbolic significance of the Guadalquivir river for Andalusia.

🌍 Hydroelectric power plant Cerrada del Utrero It is a hydroelectric power plant built in 1950 to supply energy to the town of Vadillo. A water diversion dam, a subway channel 500 m (1,600 ft) long and the power plant building, made of masonry grouted with mortar, are preserved. The roof is made of flat ceramic tiles.

Routeː ,  JF 7092 ,  JF 7091 ,  A-319  (scenic road),  A-317  (scenic road), 🌍, (88.4 km (54.9 mi) - 2 hr 6 min.)

The Tranco de Beas reservoir covers a cascade of strong rocks that mark the end of the Cazorla Mountains to the west and the Segura Mountains to the east. On the hills, overlooking the reservoir, are woods on the steepest sides, with olive trees and pasture on the gentle slopes near the rural villages. To the north of Hornos, El Yelmo is the most important crag at the head of the reservoir; on its peak, the limestone capriciously changes from one shade of grey to another depending on how humid the rock is and how intense the sun is, giving an insight into the movement and size of the clouds that pass over the reservoir.

This gives a perception of motion to a landscape that is static except when a breeze blows through the treetops or makes ripples on the water. Guard posts and defence and the exploitation of forestry and agricultural resources engendered the cultural landscape of Hornos, but when the consolidation of the border with Castile ended the need for defence, this triggered changes to agriculture, forestry and livestock farming during the Modern Age with decisions taken outside the territory, such as timber extraction — for shipbuilding and, later for railway infrastructure — after the creation of the Maritime Province of Segura (1748- 1933). Lastly, the expropriation of country farms and villages during the first third of the 20th century for the construction of the Tranco dam and hydroelectric power station marked the end of the wide expanse of the Hornos pastures.

The following locations stand out in the area:

🌍 Castle of Hornos With trapezoidal enclosure in which a tower of the homage of square plant at almost 9 m (30 ft) I height stands out and it is made in masonry. The rest of the enclosure preserves three smaller towers, also made of masonry and a cistern.

🌍 Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Temple of quadrangular plant with buttresses to the feet and head. It has a quadrangular tower made of ashlar masonry and topped by cornices. The entrance is made by a Renaissance type doorway with voussoirs on both sides. The interior consists of a single nave with three sections covered by vaults with terceletes.

🌍 Villa's Door Tower that was part of an Almohad enclosure. It is quadrangular in plan and has two floors. The exterior is made of red brick, as is the window located on the second floor. Inside, a staircase gives access to a roof where there are some arrow slits.

Route: 🌍  A-317  (scenic road),  A-6301 ,  A-3120 ,  JA 9105 , 🌍, (49.2 km (30.6 mi) - 1 hr.)

The village is located at the south-eastern point of the Morena Mountains’ Centro Ibérica Unit, on the Muela de Chiclana Mountains, the main peak of this area's tabular layer. An expanse of clays, sands, loams, chalks, limestones and dolomites marks the transition from the Morena Mountains to the soft sedimentary deposits of the Guadalquivir Basin. One of the attractions of this place is that it is the temporal and spatial edge between two geological processes, two ages when two distinct parts of Andalusia emerged, the variscan orogeny and the Alpine orogeny. Chiclana de Segura stands on one of the few hills in the middle of the plain, over 200 m above the tabular layer, and commands a stunningly unique view. The site was originally used as a defensive military outpost for at different times throughout history, although few remains of this survive due to the fortress falling into ruin in the mid 16th and 19th centuries, in the wake of the Napoleonic and Carlist Wars, which resulted in the disappearance of the landmarks that formed the links between the landscape and the activities that shaped it. The landscape is also characterised by cave dwellings. In the local collective imaginary, ‘caves’ create a nexus with the people who lived here in the past. Caves have traditionally been used for a wide range of activities: housing, storage, stables, barracks, forges, bars, restaurants and tourism uses, etc., and this very much continues to be the case today.

The following locations stand out in the area:

🌍 Castle of Albanchez de Mágina It had three towers, a courtyard, a cistern and two floors, it was made of mud and stone masonry. Nowadays, there are only the walls and parts of a tower, as well as the cistern.

🌍 Church of San Pedro Apóstol It is a temple made up of two volumes. On the one hand, the church itself has a rectangular floor plan, with a three-sided roof supported by abutments; on the other hand, the tower, quadrangular and with two sections, has an entrance with a semicircular arch punctuated by pilasters with a recessed shaft. The upper body is a semicircular niche of baroque style probably built in the 17th century.

Route: 🌍,  JA 9105 ,  JA 9102 ,  A-312 ,  A-301 ,  A-4 (E5) ,  A-6200  (scenic road), 🌍, (102 km (63 mi) - 1.43 hr.)

Aldeaquemada stands on the eastern edge of the Palaeozoic rocks of the Morena Mountains Centro Ibérica area, in a slightly deformed, smoothly eroded peneplain where, in contrast to the slopes and peaks in the area, the soil is deep enough to be used for pasture. There are even some patches of olive trees and market gardens around the village.

The Aldeaquemada landscape originated from the settlement of the unpopulated lands near Colada de Santa Cruz, which connects Castile to Andalusia. When new towns and villages were built there, these lands were radically transformed, especially the basin of the streams that flow into the Guarrizas River, where the forests were turned into fields for agriculture. This landscape is in an optimal state of conservation thanks to its territorial isolation. Despite the risk of depopulation and abandonment of agriculture, this has enabled the village to survive with little pressure from construction. The houses in the village fairly faithfully retain the scales, types and key elements of the original town building project, as seen in the style of the church and the town hall. The village is surrounded by a very well-defined rural area which can almost be seen in its entirety from the higher part of the village, near the centre; the outlines of the parcels of land in this agricultural area, which date from the times of Charles III, remain almost intact, making it a very educational example of the Enlightenment project with the most formal aspects -urbanism, architecture and rural cadastre- surviving up to the present day.

🌍 Shelter of Enmedio de la Cimbarra It is a shelter that houses a site of cave paintings. Two figures are preserved along with stains and remains of paint.

🌍 Shelter of Don Pedro Mota Shelter that houses a light red ramiform. Being on a white background quartzite is very visible. It is included in the World Patrimony of UNESCO.

🌍 Parish Church It is a temple of the second half of the 18th century. It has a single nave covered by a half barrel vault with lunettes. The chevet is flat and is covered with a vault vault. In the center of the nave there are two niches with Doric columns on pedestal topped by a pediment. The exterior is made of brick with a semicircular arched entrance, two oculi at the top topped by a belfry.

In the area there are also important archaeological sites that cannot be visited, such as:

• Shelter of Prado del Azogue.  Shelter with a group of cave paintings formed by goats, cervids, zoomorphic figures, semicircular signs with "U" shape, ramiformes, etc. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage.
• Cave of Mine.  Cave with a group of cave paintings. On the right side there are two anthropomorphic figures and two halteriformes in red color; on the left side there are two schematic zoomorphic figures in red color, a branch-shaped one in light red color and two halteriformes in red carmine color. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage.
• Cave of Mosquitos.  Shelter in which there are 6 anthropomorphic figures painted in dark red. It is included in the World Patrimony of UNESCO.
• Cave of Arches.  This pictorial group is composed of poly-lobed figures, others in zig-zag, bilobulated-halteriform, bars, points, bitriangular, anthropomorphic, others in the shape of "T", ramiform, type "swallow", etc. It is included in the World Patrimony of UNESCO.
• Shelter Cimbarrillo María Antonia.  Shelter with three groups of paintings formed by anthropomorphic "ancoriform" figures, of the "pi" type and figures in the shape of inverted "W" and "V", as well as various lines and circles.

Route: 🌍,  A-6200  (scenic road),  A-4 (E5) ,  A-6177 , 🌍, (125 km (78 mi) - 2.10 hr)

The Morena range to the north of the town of Andújar presents a mountain landscape that extends as far as La Cabeza mount, which is home to the shrine where the pilgrimage ends. This mount stands at the southern head of a high plateau with hills and mountains, although this mount stands out for its height and its special terrain as it stands alongside the Jándula valley, which is over 200 m below the peaks that enclose the valley to the north. Jándula marks a deep division in the landscape as, once past the valley in the direction of Andújar, the terrain becomes more rugged, the river valleys more enclosed and deeper, and the pinewood cover gives way of holm oak woods. There are variants of mountain vegetation: treeless and shrub-covered, and pasture, depending on the topography and the use.

The pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of La Cabeza combines a long historical tradition -its origin can possibly be traced back to the 12th century- with a major cultural, religious and social identity significance for a large number of villages, some of which are even located outside the area. This has given rise to a very special pilgrimage that combines the natural values of a forested and shrubland mountain environment with symbolic aspects such as isolation, remoteness from habitation, the effort of the pilgrims, etc. that have triggered the symbolic appropriation of a territory where other activities have been undertaken throughout history. In this process, the original geographical space is turned into a landscape marked by a collective ritual that humanises it and turns it into heritage in the purest meaning of inheritance or legacy handed down from one generation to the next.

The following locations stand out in the area:

🌍 Shrine of Our Lady of La Cabeza Construction began in 1534 and ended in 1607 with the placement of the balcony of the main facade. In its construction participates Andrés de Vandelvira. Of its main facade, the central body is marked by the line of the front, balcony and belfry of two bodies, three openings for bells and pediment. The church has a single nave covered with a half-barrel vault reinforced with arches that rest on a continuous structure of ashlars in which small chapels open.

Group of houses of brotherhoods and clubs Houses whose function is to accommodate the brothers of the affiliated brotherhoods. These houses are distributed large meeting spaces, such as dining room and living room, as well as bedrooms with many beds depending on the number of brothers that hosts each house. On the outside they have a large number of openings, whether doors or windows, as well as balconies to observe the passage of the Virgin.

Carts path of Our Lady of La Cabeza Alternative route to the Camino Viejo, enabled for wagons that make the pilgrimage. It shares some sections with the Camino Viejo.

Stables roads of Our Lady of La Cabeza It is the path taken by the horses from their meeting place, passing through different parts of the village until it joins the path of the Virgin.

Path of Reception of the Filial Confraternities On the Friday prior to the celebration at the sanctuary, the parent brotherhood receives the affiliated brotherhoods and carries out a procession that ends at the Town Hall of Andújar where a reception ceremony is held.

🌍 Hermitage of Virgen del Rosario

Local intangible cultural property is also considered in the landscape:

• Pilgrimage of Our Lady of La Cabeza.  Declared of National Tourist Interest since 1980, it is one of the oldest in the country. It includes a series of events and celebrations. The first is the reception of civil and religious authorities of the sister brotherhoods, with its presentation and massive offering of flowers. The last Saturday of April is the pilgrimage, which is made on horseback, on foot, by carriage or vehicle, where stops are made for lunch and to dedicate songs, dances and salves. On Sunday the virgin is carried in a procession on shoulders where the religious and joyful demonstrations are repeated.

In the area there are also important archaeological sites that cannot be visited, such as:

• Arroyo de los Santos I.  Site with remains of constructions, Copper Age ceramics and flint elements.

Route: 🌍,  A-6177  (scenic road),  JA 5012 ,  JA 5015 ,  A-4 (E5) ,  E-902) ,  A-32 ,  JA 4102 ,  JA 3003 , 🌍 (65.4 km (40.6 mi) - 1.14 h.)

There is only slightly over 5 km (3.1 mi) between Linares and the Ibero-Roman town of Cástulo. Linares is a benchmark for industry in the Andalusia of today, while the Cástulo Archaeological Site is one of the foremost archaeological areas in the region. The two share the same environment: the countryside around the Guadalimar River, at the foot of the Morena Mountains. Something else that they have in common is that they are both places where the metal extracted from the ground has been processed, transformed and prepared for shipment.

The landscape's character is marked by mining and metallurgy, which have been done since Roman times. Some remains of mines, of extraction and slag heaps still survive, as does the town of Cástulo, built around the 6th century BCE on the Muela mountain, beside the Guadalimar River, in a strategic position for monitoring the transport of the metals. Several sectors of wall and some defensive towers can be made out. Their pre-Roman origin is evident both from the construction technique used for some tracts and from the Iberian Age burial mounds, which are dotted around the mountain.

Numerous 19th- and 20th-century mines remain around Linares, built when mining was expanding. However, mining is no longer at the forefront of the active formation of the landscape and has become a bystander to its evolution; an evolution based on agriculture and timber extraction that has created an agro-forestry landscape interspersed with vestiges of mining set down among the unhurried to-and-fro of olive growing and forestry farming.

The following locations stand out in the area:

🌍 Cástulo Archaeological site located on a plateau that occupies more than 3000 hectares. There are many remains of the Iberian-Roman city that occupied the site: necropolis, factories, public buildings and all kinds of infrastructure of the ancient city. Among the most outstanding remains are a Roman mosaic, a high relief of a lion and an early Christian paten.

🌍 Tower of Santa Eufemia Tower built in mud mortar in the twelfth century, square, four stories high and 9 m (30 ft) on each side. Next to it, another smaller tower was built next to the cisterns. Later, in the 13th century, more towers and a wall were built to form a castle that disappeared in the 14th century.

🌍 Mine-Foundry of La Tortilla Mining complex formed by five differentiated elements: Area A dedicated to the metallurgical process once the ore was extracted; Area B where the ore was extracted from the San Federico and Santa Annie shafts; Area C of the Lord Salisbury Concession whose pumping house allowed the operation of the machines of the Lord Derby Concession shafts; Areas D.1 and D.2 which include part of the old road between Areas A and B, as well as sections that have been incorporated into each of these two areas to preserve continuity; and Area E where the loading dock of the ore was located, and D.2, which include part of the old road between areas A and B, as well as sections that have been incorporated into each of these two areas to preserve continuity; and area E, where the ore loading dock for the ore that arrived by rail was located.

🌍 Mine-Foundry Area of La Tortilla Comprising the following elements: the Palmerston Complex, the La Tortilla settlement, the La Tortilla wash house, the La Tortilla chimneys, the Altos Hornos and sack sheds, the slag heaps and the La Tortilla smelter itself.

🌍 House of La Munición Built in 1757, it consists of two trapezoidal volumes linked by a courtyard. The building has two facades: one facing the Town Hall Square and the other facing the Avenida de Andalucía. The first façade, built in stone, has ashlars with cushioned ashlars and a rich ornamental decoration. The second is similar, although there are differences in the number of openings.

🌍 House of Pajares House from the 18th century that presents a structure with rustic touches although disguised by its distribution around a patio, today disappeared. It has two facades in which the balconies stand out; being the one of the main facade the most showy, having an iron parapet where it rests on 5 stone corbels. The hollows that present the facades are covered by wrought ironwork in the 18th century presenting decorations.

🌍 Foundry of La Cruz Factory built in 1830, first dedicated to the treatment of copper and later lead ores. It conserves the tower of the pellets and annexed buildings, warehouses of the electromechanical workshops, workshops, offices, changing rooms and canteen. It preserves the chimneys, one of them reaching 100 m (330 ft), leaving 57 m (187 ft) of it, in addition to the slag heaps resulting from the activity.

🌍 Industrial Mining Property Lavadero de Adaro Remains of the building that housed the flotation washer machinery and a tailing dam. Here the minerals coming from the Adaro Company were processed.

🌍 Blast furnaces and bag house Ore processing complex and the fumes from combustion were discharged; hoppers, remains of rails, ponds, walkways and a complex network of pipes for smoke evacuation have been preserved.

🌍 Foundry of San Luis Complex where the ore was transformed and the fumes from combustion were discharged; hoppers, remains of rails, ponds, walkways and a complex network of pipes for smoke evacuation are preserved.

🌍 Chimney of La Esperanza (Li-Met-04) Set of chimneys and auxiliary constructions.

🌍 Foundry of La Constancia The office building is preserved, with its characteristic entrance gate and an elevated water tank to the east. The office building is characterized by stone ashlars in the plinth and corners as well as by the recesses with red chlorine brick and the finishing of the building with plaster moldings that change from zippered to smooth.

🌍 Pit of Victoria This well began to be exploited in 1890, reaching a depth of 220 m (720 ft). It had a house with machinery to pump the mine water. From the facilities there is a perfect view of the vein.

The route's nearest hospitals areː

• 🌍 Complejo Hospitalario de Jaén, ☏ +34-953-00-80-10. 
• 🌍 Hospital Alto Guadalquivir de Andújar, ☏ +34-953-02-14-00. 
• 🌍 Hospital de San Agustín, ☏ +34-953-02-42-00. 
• 🌍 Hospital San Juan de la Cruz, ☏ +34-953-02-82-00.