Loja, Granada
Encyclopedia
Loja is a town in southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, situated at the western limit of the province of Granada. It is surrounded by the so-called Sierra
Sierra
Sierra can refer to:- Mountains and mountain ranges :* Sierra mountains * Sierra de Juárez, mountain range in Baja California, Mexico...

s de Loja, of which the highest peak, Sierra Gorda, stands 1,671 metres above sea-level.

Formerly the Moorish town of Medina Lawsa, Loja was captured by the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

s in 1486, during the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

. Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...

 called it the "flower among thorns".

Main sights

The town's Islamic heritage is still evident in the quarter of the Alcazaba
Alcazaba
An alcazaba , alcáçova or alcassaba is a Moorish fortification in Spain and Portugal. The word derives from the Arabic word القصبة , a walled-fortification in a city....

, a Moorish fortress of which most of the walls and towers remain.

Other sights include:
  • Convent of Santa Clara 816th century)
  • Convento of St. Francis of Assisi, includign a 16th century cloister
  • Church of the Incarnation (16th-17th centuries)
  • Church of San Gabriel (16th century)
  • Church of Santa Catalina (16th-17th century)
  • Church of N.tra S.ra Virgen de la Caridad (16th century)
  • Hermitages of Jesus Nazareno, san Roque, and Calvario, 16th century chapels and sanctuaries
  • Caseron de los Alcaides Cristianos (17th century)
  • Palacio de Narvaez (17th century)
  • Fuente de la Mora ("Fountain of the Moorish maiden"), also known as los venticinco canos, a fountain where waters from different springs are made to flow from twenty-five tubes.
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