If there is a corner of the Spanish geography ideal to get lost in its streets it is Antequera: the city of the dolmens, churches and natural places. This Andalusian population located in the province of Malaga is one of those places that travel the path of our history to more than 5,000 years ago. We tell you everything you need to know if you are thinking of discovering one of the most emblematic treasures of the heart of Andalusia.
No visitor should ignore the natural, baroque and neolithic beauty that can be amazed in this town in the southern Peninsula. Only 45 kilometers from the capital of Malaga, it is not only worthy of admiring what was built by human beings thousands of years ago, but what nature itself has been able to create forming equal figures in the rock: we talk about the Torcal de Antequera, one of the natural spaces protected in the community of the Costa del Sol.
Remembering Al-Andalus’s legacy, in your visit to the region you can enjoy a type of bread of Arab origin. The gastronomy that the ‘anchovies’ taste, as the Malaga are known, is one of the attractions that complement the tourist offer in the area: the Antequera gizzard is one of the undisputed protagonists of Andalusian breakfasts.
Antequera’s dolmens
The archaeological set of dolmens is one of the five European megalithic enclaves that were declared a World Heritage for the UNESCO in 2016. In the list of those megalithic monuments that were raised by the human being in the III and IV Millennium a. C., Menga and Viera’s dolmens are included, authentic features of the Neolithic Engineering of the Peninsula. A third monument also enters this list, although it is not a dolmen. This is the Tholos del Romeral. Menga and Viera’s dolmens are together and usually visit each other. However, to get to Tholos del Romeral you have to move.
Menga’s dolmen is the largest and oldest throughout the Iberian Peninsula, located in the Guadalhorce River Valley. This structure in the form of a gallery, which was mainly built under the earth a thousand years before the Egyptians created the first pyramid, has 32 stones. The largest, known as Cobija 5, reaches up to 150 tons of weight and measures about 25 meters in length with a width of 5.7 meters.
This Neolithic jewel was lifted stone by stone between 3,800 and 3,600 AC, but how could they load with some -size stones without any machinery? Precisely, a study of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) that was published in the scientific journal Science Advances He revealed how they did. Menga’s dolmen is considered a sepulcher, in which three zones are distinguished: an atrium, a corridor and a funeral chamber. For its construction, the researchers concluded that this prehistoric monument was made through a system of smooth and sled tracks. The results show that the stones were transported in a descending sense.
Another of the treasures that you can not miss is the dolmen of Viera, located a few meters from Menga. Although both are of similar morphological, constructive and chronological characteristics, Viera’s structure is of a much smaller size. Despite the difference in size, it is worth visiting its interior especially if you are an enthusiast in history.
Viera is also a sepulcher built between 3,500 and 3,020 AC, whose structure is formed by a corridor with orthostates and blankets that ends in a square funeral chamber. From the outside of the dolmen, you can see how that of Viera is also covered with a tumulus of 50 meters in diameter. The different areas of the monument are perfectly differentiated by a horared slab.
The megalithic grave of El Romeral is a construction of false dome, known as Tholos. Tholos and dolmens present notable differences between them. While the dolmen is a megalithic structure formed by large vertical stones supported by a horizontal slab, the term Tholos refers to a structure in the form of dome or vault. The Tholos of El Romeral is one of the few examples in the Iberian Peninsula of orientation to the western half of the sky.
Other of its great peculiarities is that its axis points to the Camorro of the Seven Tables, the greatest rocky elevation of El Torcal. This phenomenon allows you to during the winter solstice, sunlight penetrates to the second sepulchral chamber. Inside, the long corridor of El Romeral ends when he reaches a large camera that creates a feeling of funnel that forces to bend down when he accesses it.
The Torcal de Antequera: A Treasury of Nature
Antequera is also a place where hikers and visitors can tour one of the natural geological formations declared World Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. He Antequera Torcal It is one of the protected natural spaces of Andalusia that also has the natural place qualification since 1989.
As we mentioned, the arrangement of the Tholos of El Romeral guides us towards the mountainous relief of the Sierra de El Torcal, where the important Neolithic site of the Toro Cave is located. This natural place arouses the curiosity of visitors for the curious figures of the rocks as a result of erosion. These characteristic forms are called karst modeling.
To visit the best corners of the Torcal, it can be done for free or with a guided tour, both free. If this is the case of free visit, no previous reservation is needed. From the Torcal Alto Visitor Center A wide variety of services is offered, such as parking, tourist information point or guide service.
The city with more temples in Spain
Antequera also surprises with its churches, the result of the Andalusian Renaissance and Baroque. This Malaga population is the one with the largest number of temples, churches and active convents in the whole country. There are many mandatory stops in this beautiful city and several churches to travel with different artistic styles. So we offer you a tour of some of the most popular.
- A way to start this tour could be visiting the oldest church in the city. This is the church of San Pedro. This temple was built in 1522, a period that coincides with the beginning of the widening of the streets of Antequera.
- The Church of Carmen is definitely one of the 33 churches that you should not miss within the religious heritage of Antequera. The works of this temple began at the end of the 16th century. The Church is almost hung from a escarpper and its location offers spectacular views of the Villa River.
- The Church of Santo Domingo must be part of the list of sites that you must visit. This tempo began to be built in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Since then the main cover and the Mudejar armor of the central nave continue.
- The San Agustín convent was built between 1550 and 1556 by the works master Diego de Vergara, although over the years has suffered very diverse repairs and changes. However, it is worth going through its facilities and observing the characteristics of its architecture.
- The collegiate of San Sebastián is also a mandatory stop. The year 1692 was important for this temple, since then the distinguished collegiate was transferred from Santa María to this church of San Sebastián. For this reason, the Church underwent several modifications to beautify it. As for the style, on the facade of the Collegiate Church of San Sebastián we can observe its beautiful Renaissance cover. However, inside there are two baroque -style organs.
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