ABOUT
In Lorqui the River Segura winds its way through reedbeds, which give a lushness to the gardens and orchards and provide a contrast to the whitish coloured hills which are found nearby. The town centre lies on a promontory, which give panoramic views over the plain, and is made up of narrow streets with a Moorish layout.
HISTORY
According to some sources, it is here where the Iberian "llorci" might be found. This is where, in the 3rd century B.C., a battle took place between Carthaginians and Romans, in which the latter, under the leadership of the general Scipio, took their own lives after the defeat by throwing themselves onto a bonfire. Even today one of the surrounding hills still bears the name of this soldier. Lorqui was also a land inhabited by the Arabs, who called it Lorca Chica (or "Little Lorca"). Agriculture has always been the economic powerhouse of this area, after inheriting from those times the hydraulic system which carried the water to the cultivated land found on higher ground. Later on this town belonged to the governor Juan Manuel and then to the Order of Santiago. The expulsion of the last of the Moors from the Valley of Ricote in the 17th century, led to the enforced repopulation of the land by Aragonese and Castilian farmers. The disappearance of the feudal estates, announced in the 19th century, helped Lorqui's move towards independence.
In the present day the agrarian sector has given way to the manufacturing industries, although these are linked to a large extent to agriculture. Its industrial estate
is one of the largest and most dynamic in the region.
HERITAGE
The tourist who visits Lorqui must not miss the parish church of St. James the Apostle (Santiago Apóstol), which was built by Gilabert in the 18th century. Inside they keep an embossed silver chalice from the 18th century and a sculpture of St. Joseph attributed to Salzillo. Another visit not to be missed is the Rapao water wheel, which was built in the 18th century; it has been declared a monument of National Artisitic Interest, and is especially large, as it was built to irrigate more than one hundred acres of land. There are 112 scoops and 156 buckets in its iron structure.
FESTIVITIES
Another reason for visiting Lorqui is its fiestas. Those to the patron saint, a festivity to St. James the Apostle, are held on the 25th of July, and are celebrated with bull-fights, photography competitions, parades, the coronation of the Queens, and an unusual "pig fiesta" which consists in catching a pig in an enclosure covered in mud, as well as other activities. Another very important date here is the day of St. Anton, on the 17th of January, on which the "Outing" takes place, when they go out into the country in the afternoon for a picnic, and the purpose of this was to celebrate the return on retirement of some of the people who had emigrated to France and Germany.
