Iznajar Castle and Historical Village Centre Tour with your Tour Guide Lucia who speaks excellent English.
The tour costs just 2 euros for adults (children free) – see below for details and a little on the history.
The route includes the following (access permitting):
Museum of Implements of Tillage and Popular traditions, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Museum “La Judea” (exhibition about a traditional brotherhood who represented the Judish population relating to Easter), Museum of Sculptures Naïf “Antonio Cañizares” and Museum “Antonio Quintana”. Also Patio de Comedias (old Arab Souk) “Barrio de la Villa”(the historical village centre), Parish Church “Santiago Apóstol”, Public Library and the Castle.
The Arch, which is the entrance to the village today, was originally the door of the ‘medina’ of Iznájar. Not only was it necessary to cross this door but it also others that were located in a tower that disappeared in the 1930s. This entrance is bent and it was easy to defend from the ‘adarves’ located into both sides of it, which turned it into an impregnable fortress. In the entry of the enclosure the Municipal Arts Centre (central office of the local museums) can be found.
There is a collection of ethnographic and cultural patrimony of the area, within the Museum of Implements of Tillageand Popular Traditions, which was created in 1996 by a municipal initiative: implements and agricultural tools, and the traditional craftsmanship or ceramics, recreating the past way of life and the farmhouses and country houses they lived in.
Close to this, is the Museum of Arts and Crafts created in 2007. It pays tribute to earlier trades, recreating the interior of a harness-maker’s shop, a traditional barber’s shop and also a forge of iron-works. These trades were the hallmark of Iznájar.
The Department of Culture in Iznajar, together with donations from local families, made it possible to revive a period of the cultural history of Iznajar through the museums of arts and crafts, under the direction of Rafael Quintana. It depicts the ‘way of life’ and daily existence of the people until modern and wealthier times took precedence.
The visit to the museums is completed with the Museum of Sculptures – Naïf “Antonio Cañizares”, which exhibit samples of this artist’s work. Antonio Cañizares “El Perlo” was a creator of religious Naïf images and, as a native of Iznajar, the City Hall dedicated a museum to him, where his art can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone.
Inside the fortified enclosure, on the right, is “Patio de las Comedias” whose name comes from early theatrical representations. At the rear, there is a small viewing point close to one of the towers of the enclosure, where an image of “San Rafael” can be found.
The Parish Church of “Santiago Apóstol”, which is in the highest part of the ‘villa’, dominates with its imposing stone work. This work constituted an ambitious Renaissance project attributed to Hernán Ruiz “el Jóven”. A wide restoration from 2005 to 2008 has returned it to its magnificence.
In the same area of the castle, is the square of Alín Ben Cacín. Originally an old granary that was built in times of Charles III, it was converted to the Municipal Library. This library is valued both for its number and quality of volumes, and by its architecture.
In the highest part of the “Barrio de La Villa” it is found the Castle of Iznájar. Construction began during the 8th century, probably by Spanish-Goth builders, and it continued with successive reconstructions and extensions until the 15th century. This castle, which is of Arabic Origin, gives name to the village. The name derives from the noun “hisn” (castle) and from the adjective “al-ashar” (happy).
Behind the Parish Church and the castle, there is a wonderful viewing point – Muhamad Ben Cabena’s square. Here visitors can delight in the beauty of the magnificent lake and the surrounding hills of olive groves.
We can also find the “Museum Antonio Quintana” in which there is an exhibition of the works of this local Artist.
