Librilla is a Spanish

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

Murcia region The Region of Murcia (, ; es, Región de Murcia ), is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean coast. The region is in area and had a population of 1,511,251 as at the st ...

. It had a population of 4614 in 2010 and an area of 56 km². It's placed in both sides of the Orón river.

Geography

Librilla is located next to the Algecira's

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

and it's crossed by the

Oron Oron may refer to: "Light" or someone that is "being able" or "capable" of doing anything posible or impossible. *Oron people a multi ethnic group of people living In the lower Cross River basin. *Oron Nation, one of the major states in the old Ca ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. It's situated in the shadow of Sierra de Carrascoy and the slopes of

El Castellar El Castellar is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nac ...

, bordering the municipalities of

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

to the north and east, north by Mula and

Alhama de Murcia Alhama de Murcia is a Spanish municipality in the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. It is located in the north of the southern half of the region. The municipality shares borders with Librilla in its north, Murcia in its northeast, Fue ...

to the south and west.

History

Librilla's history dates back from

Iberians The Iberians ( la, Hibērī, from el, Ἴβηρες, ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (among ...

time, which left the remains of a settlement in

. The name of this town gave it the Arab geographer

Al-Idrissi Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي القرطبي الحسني السبتي; la, Dreses; 1100 – 1165), was a Muslim geographer, cartogra ...

, in the 12th century, called "Lymbraya", which in Arabic means "Ghost's stream" (Barranco de los Espectros). In 1243, after Muslim rule Librilla along with the rest of the Kingdom of Murcia is delivered as a protectorate of the future

Alfonso X Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

of Castile, then infant, through the surrender of Alcaraz. In times of

Alfonso XI Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...

, Juan Manuel, governor of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of Castile in the

Kingdom of Murcia After roughly two decades as a protectorate of the Crown of Castile, the territory of the Taifa of Murcia became the Kingdom of Murcia ( es, Reino de Murcia, links=no, a territorial jurisdiction of the Crown of Castile) in the wake of its Conques ...

, Librilla inherited as part of the estates belonging to his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

Demographics

Main sights

The most notable places in Librilla include: * San Bartolome's Church; * The Town Hall; * Castle's ruins; * Sagrado Corazon's Park, always know how "El Monumento"; * " Escalera de los Moros"; * " Caseron Marques de Camachos"; * "

Las Posadas ''Las Posadas'' is a ''novenario'' (an extended devotional prayer). It is celebrated chiefly in Latin America, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and by Latin Americans in the United States. It is typically celebrated each year between December 16 and ...

"; * Rosalía's Manor ( Casa Méndez); * Centenary elm in El Lavdor;

Economy

The main economic activity is

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

Librilla with irrigated

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

s, especially the production of

lemons The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culina ...

. Librilla industrial production is very recent, from the construction of industrial estate "Cabecicos Blancos", situated along the Mediterranean motorway, 20 km from

. The polygon has an area of 750,000 m2 of industrial land and 512,000 m2 of building land and has good access.

Gastronomy

The main dishes of local

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...

are rice with rabbit, stew, crumbs, michirones (dried beans cooked with

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

and

sausages A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. W ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

with

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

and the pot of cooked pork. One type of traditional

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

called pitanza, which weighs 200 grams and is released thousands from the

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

every 22 August. This is a unique event both regionally and nationally originated in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

times.

Holidays

* May 2–3: "Festividad de la Santa Cruz". *July 16: Carmen's Virgin. * August 2: Our Lady of Angels. * August 18–24: "Fiestas patronales en honor a San Bartolomé". * September 8:

Pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

to the shrine of

Our Lady of Bethlehem Our Lady of Bethlehem (Spanish: la Virgen de Belén) is a Flanders, Flemish-style oil painting that arrived in Puerto Rico. Specialists in 15th-century art attribute the painting to the school of Brussels painter, Rogier van der Weyden, or to an an ...

that begins, in alternate years, in Librilla or in Sangonera la Seca.

Celebrities born in Librilla

* Antonio Soto Alcón (1952-),

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, he received the «European painter 2005» award from

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Sister cities

* Saint-Jean-de-Védas (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

)

References

Municipalities in the Region of Murcia {{Murcia-geo-stub