Montalbán de Córdoba is a town in the province of Córdoba in

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, southern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The town is 42 km from

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

, the capital of the province. It is widely known for its cultivation of garlic, being the top producer in

and producing 37% of the garlic consumed in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Etymology

The town's name comes from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

MONTE·ALBANVM, meaning "White Mountain", which evolved into its actual name. This name was origined by the hill the town sits upon, composed of white limestone. The first time the town is mentioned is on the 15th century by the name of "Monte Alván". Montalban de Cordoba 2

History

Prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

: Remnants of pottery were found 4 km to the south of the town. At present they are in the archaeological museum of Cordoba. *3rd century BC: Near Montalban was an old Roman city known as

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

. *210 BC:

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

fought in a battle in the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Ancient Carthage, Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For ...

. *45 BC:

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

and

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

's sons fought in a battle in

Caesar's civil war Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was a civil war during the late Roman Republic between two factions led by Julius Caesar and Pompey. The main cause of the war was political tensions relating to Caesar's place in the Republic on his expected ret ...

. Segovia vanishes from the historical record. *4th century to 5th century AD: Ruins and a catacomb are found in Tentecarreta 2 km from the town. *1530: Fernandez of Cordoba established Montalban. *1668: Montalban had a population of 1,040. *1808-1812: French invaders burn the municipal file of Montalban and the history of the town is lost. *1880: Montalban had a population of 3,000. *1910: Montalban had a population of 3,300. *1960: Montalban had a population of 4,700, but shrunk to 3,800 due to emigration.

Demographics

Representative buildings and places of interest

El Calvario

El Calvario is in the south part of Montalbán, inside the town limits. The original Calvario hermitage, built during the first half of the 17th century, was a small church on the outskirts of Montalbán, near the old castle ruins. The building construction used poor quality material and it was soon found to be in a state of near ruin. Construction of a new chapel at the site of the first began in 1773 and was completed in 1776. This chapel, though stronger than the previous one, unfortunately was also built with inferior materials, so that, at the end of March 1852, the lantern and the dome of the chapel collapsed. After consultation with competent builders, the second Chapel was torn down and rebuilt from the ground at its new location in town. The work was completed in July 1856, and the image of ''Nuestro Padre Jesús del Calvario'' was returned to the new chapel on August 25, upon which the village celebrated with the ringing of bells, illuminations, temporary triumphal arches, and buntings hung on edifices. The building is decorated in Neoclassical style; its exterior is rather plainly finished in white stucco, while the dome and

roof lantern A roof lantern is a Daylighting (architecture), daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight stru ...

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

are tiled. The church is consecrated to ''Nuestro Padre Jesús del Calvario'' (Our Father Jesus of Calvary); his image is in the

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

, which is worked in the

Sevillian Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

style. The building's ground plan is

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

, in the shape of a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

. The archway by the artist Francisco Suarez was preserved in the chapel. The guesthouse was built in 1866 in order to accommodate pilgrims who arrived daily in fulfillment of their sacred vows. In the same year the House of the Santeros (image-carvers) was raised with the fencing and arched gates of the entrance court. The dedication of the new chapel was given by Major Master Ecija, D. Corrales Jose Martinez, who explained its relationship to the architecture of Seville. The building has been maintained in recent years by minor works such as the paving of the courtyard entrance, roof-work and the restoration of the guesthouse and the House of the Santeros.

Madre de Dios Hermitage

This church was declared a historic artistic monument in 1981, and a historical heritage of Andalusia in 1996. Located on the corner of Madre de Dios Street and Ancha Street, it is a three

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

church. It was called ''Nuestra Señora de los Remedios'' from the 16th century to 1850. Presently the building is closed, although Mass is occasionally celebrated.

Santa María de Gracia Church

This is a parish church situated in the Andalusia square, facing the town hall. The church is made of brick and built in oval form. The interior has a small altar dedicated to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

, a baroque

and ruins of the old church, which was demolished in 1964. It has pieces of

metalsmith A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest list of metalworking occupations, metalworking o ...

ery from the old building incorporated in the golden parish cross, the silver

monstrance A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharisti ...

and the shrine's door. The church appears to be built in the style of the 14th century, of Gothic architecture. It is 25 m long, 17 m broad and 10 m high, and has three

s. The walls are

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

and the central nave has a

coffered A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...

ceiling. The church has more than a dozen altars; the main altar (1724) is the work of the sculptor Gaspar Lorenzo de los Cobos. The church has two entry portals, one in the front and another in back, both with

ogival arch An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two- or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture, woodworking, and ballistics. Etymology The French Orientalist Georges Séraphin Colin gives as ...

es. It also has a

belltower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church (building), church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many ...

with four bells and a rich Treasure of fine goldsmithery.

Culture House

This building was built on La Paz Street in 1984, when the democratic

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

arrived. It has two floors, with a total area of 250 m². It served as the town hall while a new one was built. Cultural activities including lectures and social gatherings, public and official ceremonies, and general presentations take place here. At present the first floor is an adult education center and the main hall; the second floor houses the municipal library.

Library

The present town library was inaugurated in 1986. Until 1990 it was situated on the second floor of the old medical center, now the Office for Youth Information (''Oficina de Informacion Juvenil''). At that time, the library had 1300 volumes. In 1990 it was moved to the second floor of the Culture House; at this writing the library has over 7000 volumes.

Tentecarreta Catacombs

Tentecarreta is 2 km from Montalban. Large underground galleries were found here which served as a

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

during the 4th and 5th centuries. These galleries form

catacombs Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etym ...

which were rare in most localities of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

; the catacombs of Montalban are the only such catacombs in Spain. Tentecarreta has two galleries, crossed and oriented to the

cardinal points The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths ( clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The four ...

. The galleries are narrow, tortuous, and heavily eroded due to humidity, collapses and avalanches of mud. The south gallery housed a collective burial.

El Mesto

The Mesto was an old tree, a hybrid between one species,

evergreen oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to ot ...

, and another,

cork oak ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork (material), cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, ...

, located about 7 km from Montalban. During the 8th century it provided shade, shelter and rest for peasants and travellers. The ancient tree measured 15 m in circumference, but it was severely damaged when someone built a fire in a hollow in its trunk. In 1980, an association was founded for its preservation, as the Mesto had long served as an inspiration to poets, writers and artists, arousing a special sensibility of appreciation for the beauty of nature. The Mesto was destroyed in the summer of 1995; yet it remains a symbol, and evokes a feeling for this beauty and a memory of something deeply meaningful being lost.

Festivals

August Fair

The fair is celebrated during August 6–8, in honour of ''Nuestro Padre Jesús del Calvario''; this is harvest time for area farms and the end of the season for agriculture generally.

Romería

The pilgrimage is celebrated on May 15 in honour of Saint

Isidore the Laborer Isidore the Laborer, born Isidro de Merlo y Quintana, also known as Isidore the Farmer () ( – 15 May 1130), was a Mozarab farmworker who lived in medieval Madrid. Known for his piety toward the poor and animals, he is venerated as a Catholic pa ...

. Almost everyone in town goes to Huerta Dios, a distance of around one kilometre. For around half the morning there is a procession headed by the coach of Saint Isidore's devotees, followed by other coaches, horsemen, and people in traditional costumes.

Notes

External links

Page of City Council of Montalbán de CórdobaPage of Campiña Sur's comarca
Multiterritory Information System of Andalusia
International Fair of Garlic of Montalbán de Córdoba
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montalban De Cordoba Municipalities in the Province of Córdoba (Spain)