Anvil rack

Yunquera is a Spanish municipality in the province of Málaga in Andalusia. Located in the west of the province, it extends from the Peñón de los Enamorados and the Tajo de la Caina, in the Sierra de las Nieves, to the junction of the Grande and Jorox rivers. In 2016 it had 3,948 inhabitants, being the town with the largest population in the Sierra de las Nieves region. It has a density of 56.62 inhabitants/km². It is located at an altitude of 681 meters and 61 kilometers from the provincial capital, Malaga. Its geographic coordinates are 36º43' N, 4º 55' EITHER.

Border to the NW with the municipality of El Burgo, to the NE, a small part of Casarabonela, to the E, with Alozaina; to the S with Tolox, and to the W, the municipality of Ronda.

Geography

The municipality extends from the Peñón de los Enamorados and the Tajo de la Caina, in the Sierra de las Nieves, to the junction of the Grande and Jorox rivers.

• It has an extension of 55 km2.
• In 2002 it had a population of 3,284.
• His kindness is Yunqueranos.

Populations

The villa

Yunquera is the only village that is part of the municipality. It is located on a kind of depression between Sierra Cabrilla and Sierra de las Nieves. The nucleus is the same as all the populations of Malaga. Of white houses, and very narrow streets, adorned with flowers.

History

Yunquera owes its name to the large number of reeds that existed in its location, which gives an idea of the abundance of water, a natural abundance that extends to the mountains.

Possibly of Roman origin, although no remains are preserved, the Visigothic Christians already settled in these lands before the Berber troops arrived.

In Roman times it was an obligatory step for the legions in the conquest of Hispania that passed from Malaca (Málaga) to the Serranía de Ronda.

Monuments and places of interest

Yunquera view from the SO from the Sierra de las Nieves with Peña Prieta behind.

Vigía de la Sierra de las Nieves, Yunquera tower.

According to the Junta de Andalucía, the watchtower or castle was built during Arab times, in order to warn of enemy troops advancing inland. In the town this tower is called La Torre Vigía or Castillo. The medieval castle was in what is currently the town, specifically in the area where the current church is.

In its original state, the tower was made entirely of stone, circular with three floors. In the first one was the door, which was climbed by means of a ladder that was withdrawn when there was some danger. The different floors had a series of holes, the loopholes, through which the artillerymen fired at the enemy. The roof was accessed from inside the tower by a wooden staircase. The appearance it currently presents is quite different from the original. Since its construction more than 500 years ago, it has undergone 2 reconstructions.

The first one was carried out two centuries ago, during the war of independence (1808-1812), when the high command of the army that defended the Serranía de Ronda from the French invasion was installed, serving as a watchtower for the Spanish troops to fight Napoleon in the Spanish war of independence under the command of General Ballestero.

The second remodeling, with more peaceful purposes, has been carried out today to condition it as an information point. It currently has a museum, a viewpoint and is the headquarters of the Yunquera Astronomical Observatory Archived on October 19, 2014 at the Wayback Machine..

The Hermitage, located about 500 m from the town. This hermitage, once communicated by means of a tunnel with the castle, located in the highest part of the town. The current vestiges are the remains of a hermitage or Christian sanctuary in Baroque style and worship (16th-18th centuries).

It has been a commonplace to indicate that both this tower and the hermitage were from the Moorish period, as is frequent in the collective mentality of Andalusian towns; although in reality they are much later.

Estate of La Puente. Its existence has been documented since the XVI century, next to a bridge at the ford on the Yunquera - Tolox road (Libro de Apeos and Repopulation of Yunquera, XVI century). Its buildings were associated with a hermitage, whose bell was taken to the parish church of Yunquera (see the books of F. Doña Doña).

Sola's House. Baroque-palatial architecture house according to the Castilian model, from the 17th-18th centuries, on Calle Calvario. Presents heraldic shield.

Parish Church of La Encarnación. Baroque-style parish church renovated in the 18th century. Among the safe data it is partly built on what was the old fortress of Yunquera.

Medieval walls. There are vestiges of the walls through the hamlet around the parish church. The entrance to Calle Seminarista Duarte from Calle del Agua preserves the original layout of one of the entrance doors, mentioned in the Libro de Apeos y Repartimientos del siglo XVI. A large number of quadrangular ashlars from different phases of demolition of the walls are part of the terraced walls of different irrigated and planted farms in the Planos area and surroundings of the modern urban area.

Yunquera.

Train Stop Neighborhood. Sidewalk of houses built in the second half of the XIX century by the master mason Cristóbal Sánchez González, who proceeded to sell or lease them. The denomination as "Para del Tren" It is an expression of popular culture to name with hyperbole a series of houses whose design and architecture was identical in an agrarian environment where the buildings used to be different from one another, without repeating models, although the concepts of habitability did. His son Rafael Sánchez García built the left sidewalk of the current Alfaguara street. After returning from the Cuban war to his native Yunquera (he was in the artillery units of the Santiago de Cuba division) and marrying Dolores Duarte Corrales, he returned to the Caribbean island where he founded a company with his two brothers. of construction; they stayed in Cuba and Rafael returned to Yunquera where he built the sidewalk of houses on Alfaguara street and one of the construction phases of the Tolox Spa, a town where he settled at the beginning of the 1920s, where he built the current Encina street, and place where he set up his butcher, bakery and house rental businesses for "bathers" who came every year; there is still a house owned by one of the branches of his Toloxeño descendants. His profession continued with his son Alfonso Sánchez Duarte (1897-1966) and his grandson Antonio Sánchez García (1931-2001). A spiral staircase remains from Alfonso Sánchez Duarte in the "Hostal Asensio". With them this Yunqueran saga of construction masters for centuries has disappeared. Among his heirs, the news has been transmitted that the master builder in charge of carrying out the watchtower with his team during the War of Independence was the grandfather of Cristóbal Sánchez González, who worked under the orders of the military engineers who designed the fortification.

Numerous houses with Baroque portals from the 17th-18th centuries have been preserved. Its popular architecture is of great cultural, ethnological and historical interest.

Hermitage from the road.

Cemetery (old phase). Of interest to preserve the tombstones, mortuary buildings, fence, funeral garden design with cypresses and other funerary monuments.

Hardware with the design of the locks of different old doors, produced by the master blacksmiths of Yunquera for centuries. The inscription of the master Juan Sánchez stands out in an ironwork on Calle Nueva.

Porticate hermitage.

San Pascual hydroelectric power station

Services

Because the Sierra de las Nieves covers half of the municipality, it makes the town completely catering, full of rural houses and hotels. At the same time, several hiking routes that run through the Sierra de las Nieves leave from the town.

Natural heritage

Yunquera pine forest.

Yunquera has one of the Pinsapos (Abies pinsapo) forests, with 1,050 ha. It is an endemic species of this region that extends over the peaks of the Serranía de Ronda (Málaga) and the Sierra de Grazalema (Cádiz).

Natural environment

The Sierra de las Nieves is one of the most important enclaves in the municipality, due to the abundance of firs in the area. There are several important elevations, such as the Peñón de Ronda and the Peñón de los Enamorados. There are mountain passes very visited by tourists; like that of Saucillo.

One of the most important natural enclaves in the mountains of this municipality is the Tajo de la Caina. A large limestone escarpment that is located on the Cuesta de los Hornillos valley.

Other natural environments are the valley of Zarrazolones and the Sierra Cabrilla.

Politics and Administration

The political administration of the municipality is carried out through a democratically managed City Council whose members are elected every four years by universal suffrage. The electoral census is made up of all residents registered in Yunquera over the age of 18 and nationals of Spain and the other member states of the European Union. According to the provisions of the General Electoral Regime Law, which establishes the number of eligible councilors based on the population of the municipality, the Yunquera Municipal Corporation is made up of 11 councilors.

Sports

In Yunquera, one of the most important mountain races in Andalusia has been held since 2011, the so-called Pinsapo Trail.

Thanks to a group of runners who are fond of mountain races in the town, the first edition was held in November 2011. In the first edition the victory went to Federico Galera Díez and Mariola García Moreno. After the success of the participation of runners and what they liked, the race has continued to be held year after year until today, having participated runners as important as Iván Ortiz, Daniel García, Antonio García, Bartolomé Inglés, Pedro Manuel Maldonado, or Zait Ait Malek himself. Today the Pinsapo Trail is one of the most important and beautiful mountain races in Andalusia, because it is the only race that passes almost entirely through the Pinsapar de Yunquera, which is a real beauty.

This race would not be possible without the efforts of the hiking team from this town in Malaga, who have turned the Pinsapo Trail into one of the most outstanding mountain races in Andalusia. We must thank the success of this race to members of this team such as: Rafael Moreno, José Juan, Manuel García, José Martos, etc., and also to the many volunteers who collaborate every year for the good of this sport.[1 ]

Bibliography about Yunquera

• The Yunquera of YesterdayFrancis Doña Doña. Diputación de Málaga, 1990.
• The old-fashioned YunqueraFrancis Doña Doña. Editorial La Serranía, 2004.
• Yunquera RootsFrancis Doña Doña. Editorial La Serranía, 2007.
• Sierra de las Nieves. Hiking guideRafael Flores Domínguez and Andrés Rodríguez González. Editorial La Serranía, 2004.
• Sierra de las Nieves. Simas, caves and ravinesManuel Jesús Guerrero Sánchez. Editorial La Serranía, 2004.

Economy

Evolution of outstanding municipal debt

Graphic of evolution of living debt of the City of Yunquera between 2008 and 2019

Living debt of Yunquera City Council in thousands of Euros according to data from the Ministry of Finance and Ad. Public.