Benaojan information
Between the solid mass of limestone of the Sierra de Libar
and the River Guadiaro stands Benaojan, which still retains
the essence of the Arab designed villages with their narrow
streets and whitewashed houses. Our Lady’s Church
is its most noteworthy building, and the cured pork sausage
industry which has made Benaojan deservedly famous is clearly
in evidence.
Just seven Km from the village, on the slopes of the Sierra
de Libar, stands The Pileta cave, considered to be the finest
example of Andalusian cave art.
History
At the valley of the River Guadiaro, between El Libar and
El Oreganal sierras, in the foothills of La Serranía
de Ronda mountain range, the municipal area of Benaojan
was the scene of prehistoric man’s intrepid struggle
for survival. It is home to Cueva de La Pileta cave, a veritable
cave painting sanctuary discovered in 1911 by the English
archaeologist Verner and declared a National Monument of
Cave Art in 1924, which contains magnificent pictorial works
from different periods of prehistory, particularly the Magdalenian
era; Pablo Picasso would surely have attributed the huge
fish painted in one of its chambers to one of the most outstanding
painters in the history of art. Further evidence of the
presence of prehistoric settlers was found at at Hundidero-Gato,
though these underground caves have now been completely
stripped of their archaeological relics. The present-day
site of the village is of Arabic origin, as its name would
suggest, deriving from the Arabic Ibn Uyan, meaning "house
of bakers". Benaojan Castle was destroyed along with
those of Montecorto and Audita by the Catholic Monarchs
in 1487. After the Christian conquest, the local moriscos
- Moorish converts to Christianity - slowly left the lands
of which they felt they had been stripped, until they were
finally expelled in the second half of the 16th century
in the wake of a failed rebellion. In 1571, the village
and its municipal area were repopulated by Old Christian
families from Castile.
Malaga province
|
