LIBRILLA

ABOUT

Librilla is situated in the Guadalentin Valley, just 23 kilometres from the capital of the Region. It was given its name, in the 12th century, by the Arabic geographer Al-Hidrissi, who named it Lymbraya, which means "Ravine of the Spectres" in reference to the deep ravine which in those times already wound its way through the town dividing it into two parts. This ravine was a secure defense to the south-west.

HISTORY

In the year 1243, the Moorish king Ibn Hud handed the city over to Alphonse X. Later, in the time of Alphonse XI, D. Juan Manuel, the King of Castilia's governor in the Kingdom of Murcia, inherited this area as one of the estates which belonged to his father.

The importance of this town can be deduced from its fortifications and the repairs which were made to its walls and castle over a period of many years. The careful distribution of its forts towards the Segura Valley, Lorca, Aledo and Alhama indicate that they guarded and watched over all the routes which led to and from the Granada-Almeria border and that is why the Fajardos, who ruled over Alhama, with its mighty watch tower, decided to maintain and reinforce this hospitable town at the foot of the Carrascoy Range, whose main route strategically crossed the valley towards the road to Cartagena. When the Fajardo family founded their estate in Librilla , it was officially declared a Borough, with its origins dating from 1458, giving it a not inconsiderable history; they then proceeded to set up their ancestral home there and built stables for horse-breeding. The residential home of the nobles of this area was inhabited, until the first third of the 18th century, by the Duke of Montalvo and the Marchioness of the Velez.

HERITAGE

The tourist who comes to Librilla can begin their visit at the Church of St. Bartholomew, which dates from the 17th century, and which contains beautiful engravings by Sanchez Lozano. The book of weddings and baptisms of this church, which was built on top of an ancient hermitage, had its first entries in 1500, and goes up to 1770. The stables date from the time of the Catholic Kings. Other houses of interest are that of the Marquis of Camachos, from the 17th century, with artistic grilles on its façade, and that of the stable grooms on the old road leading up to the town. On the hillocks next to the nearby gulleys, the remains of Argaric and Arabic settlements have been discovered, as well as ponds and wells which provided the water for the migratory herds of cattle which for several centuries passed through here.

FESTIVITIES

The most important festival for this town is that celebrated in the month of August, from the 20th to the 24th, in honour of the Apostle St. Bartholomew. During these "fiestas" numerous events take place, the most noteworthy of which is the "pitanzas"(rations), in which tousands of loaves of bread are thrown from the balconies of the Town Hall, and which has been happening ever since the Middle Ages when bread was handed from the fortress to the people who lived on the outside and who did not have enough. The affair is then completed with a "street flour gathering" ceremony in which the Mayor and other dignities of the town wander from house to house with a band collecting a bag of flour or else its equivalent in cash from each one.