Alájar is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

located in the province of

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

, Spain. According to the 2005

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, the city has a population of 771 inhabitants. The song "

Señorita Señorita or Senorita may refer to: Biology * Señorita banana, a banana cultivar from the Philippines * '' Oxyjulis'' (Spanish common name: ), a species of fish Film * ''Senorita'' (film), a 1927 American silent film * ''Señorita'', a 2011 fi ...

" of the Bollywood movie ''

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'' (), is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language Road movie, road comedy drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment. The film stars an ensemble cast of Hrithik ...

'' was shot in this town. Alájar had 8 villages in the 19th century. Currently, only 4 villages are inhabited: El Calabacino,

El Collado EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a List of Shugo Chara! characters#El, character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (Stranger Things), Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fiction ...

El Cabezuelo EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a List of Shugo Chara! characters#El, character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (Stranger Things), Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fiction ...

and Los Madroñeros.

Demographics

Tourism

Benito Arias Montano Benito Arias Montano (or Benedictus Arias Montanus; 1527–1598) was a Spanish orientalist and polymath who was active mostly in Spain. He was also editor of the '' Antwerp Polyglot''. He reached the high rank of Royal Chaplain to King Philip II ...

retired to La Peña de Arias Montano after his work on the Polyglot Bible and participation in the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

. This community receives many visitors each year. Here the bust of the great humanist and theologian of the sixteenth century, engraved by Eugenio Hermoso on the occasion of his centenary in 1927, can be found. In 2011

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

drew attention to this small town with the film ''Sólo se vive una vez'' (You Only Live Once, ''

'') from director

Zoya Akhtar Zoya Akhtar (born 14 October 1972) is an Indian director, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi films and series. Born to Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, she completed a diploma in filmmaking from New York University, NYU and assisted dire ...

, the filming of the song "

" from the film took place over three nights, which also featured locals dressed in costumes.

Main sights

* Reina de los Ángeles Hermitage * San Marcos Church * St. Bartholomew Hermitage * Portada almohadillada * Espadaña y garitas * "Peña de Arias Montano" Natural Monument

"Peña de Arias Montano" Natural Monument

''Monumento Natural ''Peña de Arias Montano'' or ''Peña de Alájar'' is a natural monument of great historical and landscape value. The famous humanist

lived here, and the area was renamed after him so that nowadays it goes by the name of "Peña de Arias Montano." It offers incredible views of Alájar and everything south of the province of

. Below is a network of caves among which is Palacio Osucro, a cave which currently remains closed.

Reina de los Ángeles Hermitage

The ''Ermita de la Reina de los Ángeles'' (Reina de los Ángeles Hermitage) or ''Ermita de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles'' (Our lady of los Ángeles Hermitage) is located within la Peña de Alájar. This sixteenth-century chapel is a building consisting of heterogeneous aggregations to a small temple. It consists of a nave, priest and dressing room, in addition to a vestry, housing and enclosures. The nave, with strong deformations to the floor has two pointed transverse arches that spring from pillars.

Portada almohadillada

It is located in front of the Hermitage. It consists of two semi-columns and an arc in addition to the spill nose tongs and some bursts of buttress walls. It lacks historical reference, however it has very clear affiliations within Renaissance architecture.

Espadaña y garitas

Located at the edge of the plateau on which the Reina de los Ángeles Hermitage sits, in la Peña de Arias Montano is a picturesque steeple, accompanied by pilastered booth paths, circular and a penpal vault. The steeple has two levels: the bottom has a symmetrical composition with a base of six embedded semi-columns on each side framing a round arch, post-and-beam openings with square windows above and finally two massifs. The columns on pedestals are independent and carry some terse chapiters. The upper floor is constituted by a parallelepipedal central bulk with a central oval window. Three bells and a picturesque bluff complete the work.

Gallery

File:Alajar-P1040659.JPG, City Hall File:Alajar-P1040660.JPG, A street in Alájar File:Alajar-P1040907.JPG, Alájar seen from la Peña de Arias Montano File:Alájar - La Peña 03.jpg, Bell gable at the Reina de los Ángeles chapel File:Alajar-P1040685.JPG, The San Marcos Church around which the village of Alájar is clustered

References

External links

Alájar
- Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía {{DEFAULTSORT:Alajar Municipalities in the Province of Huelva