Gérgal: Festivals, Castles and the Calar Alto Observatory

Culture

The Fiestas de San Sebastián, also known as Moros y Cristianos and in the town as La Fiesta del Santo, take place on the weekend closest to 20 January. The festival includes the “relaciones”, based on traditional texts, and staged “guerrillas” between the Moorish and Christian groups. On the third and final afternoon, a joint procession makes its way to the Ermita de San Sebastián. The ermita houses a representation of Gérgal’s patron saint throughout the year. Restoration work on the Ermita de San Sebastián was completed in 2000.

The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Gérgal has a documented artesonado coffered ceiling. Its central roof structure is built in the Mudéjar style. During restoration work on the church, murals were discovered on some of the walls in 2001.

East of Gérgal’s town centre, there is a chapel on the summit of Loma de Tablas. A small, square chapel with a floor area of 9 m² stands at the western entrance to Gérgal.

In the municipality of Gérgal, between El Almendral and the Peñón de las Juntas, there are four prehistoric sites with rock paintings, pottery, flint artefacts, a polished stone bead, and a copper or bronze earring.

Other places included in the overview are Canjáyar, Fondón, Pechina, Láujar De Andarax, Cuevas Del Almanzora, Vélez-Blanco, Terque and Abrucena.

History

Castillo de Gérgal was built in the late Middle Ages under Muslim rule and came into the possession of the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. It has a slate-built defensive tower, a retaining wall and corner towers with pointed roofs. The castle was restored from 1970 onwards; in 1993, it was protected as a monument as a Bien de Interés Cultural.

La Cimbra is a public washhouse built in 1947 that operated until the 1970s and is now preserved as a testament to Gérgal’s local history.

The Puente Viejo de Gérgal was completed in 1908 after construction began in 1880. It consists of a main arch over the Rambla de Gérgal and two secondary arches, which served to regulate water drainage during earlier summer storms.

Spain’s first electrified railway section began operating between Santa Fe and Gérgal in February 1912; it was 21 km long. The historic Gérgal station on the Linares–Almería line had an electrified single track.

Geographical setting

The Calar Alto Observatory is located in the municipality of Gérgal, on the summit of the Sierra de los Filabres at an altitude of 2,168 m. It is operated by CAHA, the Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán.

A daytime visit to the Calar Alto Observatory lasts around two hours and is led by qualified, scientifically trained staff. Since March 2016, members of the public have been able to visit the observatory individually or in groups; the activities were conducted by the company “Azimuth Education and Scientific Tourism”.

For the higher-level travel overview: Almeria.