Finana

Fiñana is a Spanish town and municipality in the province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, located in the Los Filabres-Tabernas region and 71 km from the provincial capital, Almería. In 2021 it had 1,977 inhabitants (INE). Its municipal area has an area of 133.85 km², which provides a population density of 14.77 inhabitants/km².

Its main productive activity is agriculture and specifically cereal crops, olive groves and beets, as well as having food industries and iron mines.

Fiñana was a disputed border, thus forming a melting pot of cultures. A Moorish Fortress, a church and a mosque are its landmarks; center of its indisputable term and head of the Commonwealth of the Nacimiento River.

The Parish and the Hermitage of Nuestro Padre Jesús (former Almohad mosque), are its two privileges, making manifest the evolution of the creeds, with their ways of life, as in other places in the environment; cohabitation and superimposition of inhabitants transcendent to the current diversity and landscape complexity. The remains of the citadel declare its location in a natural corridor of border land that is frequently disputed from the outside, since it is located between Guadix, Baza and Almería, and from the inside, since it monopolized the current municipalities of Abla, Abrucena and Las Tres Villas, despite of having had different councils. It extends today from North Northwest to South-Southeast; 133.7 km² of interior land with a high and wide plain, intemperate and semi-arid, between the Penibéticas, on the western limit of the province of Almería.

And as the town motto says: "Fiñana: Villa Hidalga y Morisca".

Geography

Nestled in the corridor formed by the Sierra Nevada and the Sierra de Los Filabres and which bears his name.

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Interactive map — Fiñana and its municipality

Location

Northwest: Dollar	North: Baza	Northeast: Baza
West: Huéneja		This: Abrucena
Southwest Huéneja	South: Laujar de Andarax	Sureste: Abrucena

Orography

Mainly the topography, so rugged, differentiates four sectors in the municipality associated with as many landscapes: the southern, in the Sierra Nevada natural park, the Mesopotamian land where Fiñana sits, the Llano de Abla or corridor from Fiñana (bottom of the upper valley of Nacimiento) and the northern one, extended on the sunny side of Sierra de Los Filabres. The Sierra Nevada shade is abrupt here, with escarpments and considerable heights (El Almirez: 2,519 masl); snowy terrain, broken, from which, in favor of fractures and joints, streams of water arise.

Some curved hills descend from this wall, repetitive abutments, which nestle tributary basins with a shape similar to half a crescent moon, very well individualized. The eastern abutment, under Cerro de la Cruz, is marked by adjustments for tourism family (El Ubeire, Aldeire, La Dehesa), on the border with Abrucena; before its inflection on the hill where that town takes its seat, a secondary interfluvium is derived that ends in the Cerro de San Antón (955 m), a hill of reddish detrital materials for a farmhouse among pine trees. Dominated by Montaire, the western abutment, with a similar curvature, separates it from the Huéneja basin to the West, and, to the North, the demarcation of the collector of both, a corridor and a plain that links, imperceptibly, with the Marquesado.

Hydrography

Between both, the Fiñana basin is drained by the Nacimiento river, they collect the maps; evocations of the transfer suffered by the Mediterranean waters at its natural headwaters (Huéneja) towards the Atlantic slope, leaving the channel between the towns so dry that it deserves the name of La Rambla.

History

It was founded by the Romans to control the road between Almería, Guadix and Granada. It was integrated into the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, and officially ceased to be so in 1489, when the Catholic Monarchs spent the night in the town, thus becoming part of the crown of Castile. Therefore, there are two Fiñanas, the Arab one with convoluted sloping streets and balconies overlooking the valley, and the Christian Fiñana, which grows along Calle Real, lined with religious buildings.

After the Christian conquest, Fiñana became a royal town and received significant repopulation, while its economic development was linked to the silk industry. On the night of December 28, 1489, the Catholic Monarchs spent the night in the town, which became part of the Crown of Castile and, shortly after, a Christian repopulation process began so that the Moors would no longer be the majority.

During the 17th and 18th centuries it experienced various segregations of its term, such as Abla, Abrucena or Las Tres Villas, although they always maintained an economic and cultural dependence on the parent municipality.

The peak moment will be in the second half of the 19th century when it reaches almost 4,000 inhabitants, thanks to a cattle fair, Mediterranean agriculture and reduced mining activity.

Human Geography

Demographics

Evolution of the population

Graphic of demographic evolution of Fiñana between 1900 and 2021

Population of Law (1900-1991) or resident population (2001) according to population censuses of the INE. Population according to the 2017 municipal plan of the INE.

The data for the 2021 population pyramid can be summarized as follows:

• The population under 20 is 15.25 % of the total.
• The figure between 20-40 years is 22.67 %.
• The figure between 40-60 years is 29.54 %.
• Over 60 years is 32.55 %.

Communications

Estación de Fiñana

Connections

Road

A-92 Highway that connects Almería and Seville and crosses the municipality.

A 1176 Road that connects the municipality with the A-92.

AL 6401 Highway that runs through the municipality and connects it with Huéneja.

Railway

The municipality is home to the Fiñana station, which connects it with Almería, Granada, Madrid, as well as other towns through the Linares-Baeza-Almería line, with medium and long-distance trains.

Bus

The connection is through the Almería-Jaén bus line, with two daily buses to Jaén and one to Almería.

Air transportation

The nearest airport is Almería, which is located 72.1 kilometers away.

Sea transport

The closest port is Almería, which is 64.8 kilometers away.

Economy

The main productive activity of this town is agriculture, dedicating its land to the cultivation of cereals, olive groves, almond trees and beets. Formerly they had open iron mines.

Evolution of outstanding municipal debt

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

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

Public services

Education

IES Sierra Nevada

In the municipality there is a CEIP, the San Sebastián and an IES, the Sierra Nevada, it is a bilingual center that offers the ESO, the baccalaureate in Sciences and Humanities and Social Sciences modality and two modules of Professional Training of Degree Half; one on information technology and the other on the use and conservation of the natural environment.

Health

The municipality has a medical office that provides services 5 days a week. It depends on the District of Almería and its reference hospital is Torrecárdenas.

Security

There is a Civil Guard post that provides services to other municipalities in the region, as well as a local police office.

Culture

Heritage

Civilian

• Casery Venta Ratonera: It is an agrarian set formed by the houses of the owners, those of the jornaleros, as well as a chapel with spider and oculo on the facade, and with murals painted inside, as well as an elevated choir, a sacristy and a crypt. The dependences on the sale were connected by steep corridors and there was a source, three eras and there was a hydraulic flour mill.
• 

  Faz Casery
  Arabic Aljibe: Medieval Aljibe whose date of construction dates back to the centuryXII and XIV. It responds to the traditional model of large longitudinal nave built with concrete as waterproofing, covered with barrel vault with slate and skylight tiles on its top. Keep the cimbra where the water came in. In 2004 it is rehabilitated by the city council for use as a multipurpose space for concerts, talks and cultural activities.
• Casery of the Faz: Set wardrobe consisting of a single block of two floors. It is made in masonry and the windows are covered by grilling. The facade presnets brick mouldings. The group has two different parts: on the one hand it is intended for owners and servitude; and on the other, it is intended for agricultural labors, with potato, strawr, block, pigeons and warehouse. It has a cpailla attached and in the back an era and a well.

Religious

Church of the Annunciation

View of housing

At first, and as was customary after the Reconquest, the Muslim mosque was used as the town's church, according to the Royal Decree that the Catholic Monarchs granted on March 21, 1492.

The current temple began to be built around 1540, leaving the address attributed to Ambrosio de Villegas, who will be in charge of making pillars, arches and walls. Already in the year 1549, the wood was commissioned to proceed with the construction of the roofs of the temple, which remain under the supervision of the carpenter Miguel Ruiz. In 1592 the covers were made.

The temple is structured in three naves separated by bevelled rectangular pillars on which are placed four semicircular arches that separate the central nave from the lateral ones. The slightly rectangular main chapel is separated from the nave by a semicircular arch on half columns. This chapel is covered with an octagonal and slightly rectangular armor, which makes it necessary to use a loop of two ten-pointed stars on the longer sides. The musk and the pendentives are also made of lace.

Church of Annunciation.

The central nave is covered with an armor of moamare files, with 7 braces. The dogs are also double, presenting the decoration of acanthus leaves on the top, and human heads below.

On the outside we find a building where the box of the central nave predominates, higher than the sides, made of exposed brick and plastered masonry panels. The cover stands out, in a Mannerist style, which although treated in a rough way, nevertheless stands out for being infrequently found in our province. This consists of a first body with paired Doric columns on a continuous pedestal, which frames a semicircular arch with two angels on the spandrels that carry some cartouches where the order to build by the Bishop of Guadix D. Juan Alonso Moscoso and the conclusion of 1592. The center is occupied by the shield of the bishop.

The second body is made up of a lintelled niche, flanked by columns with Ionic capitals, topped by a triangular pediment on whose tympanum there is a bust of God the Father and on the sides shields of Martín de Ayala and Melchor Álvarez de Vormediano. In the aforementioned niche there is an image of the Virgen de la Guía carved in white Macael marble, donated by the Campos Tristán family, a copy of the original. These, together with the images of San Pedro and San Pablo, located in niches at both ends of the continuous pedestal, were destroyed during the civil war (1936-1939).

The Alcazaba and the cistern

It was built between the 9th and 10th centuries, three quadrangular towers built in sand and lime mortar, and remains of the wall's canvas are preserved.

The prolonged Muslim presence has left easily recognizable constructions and vestiges, but also others that are less apparent but more functional and everyday, such as the irrigation systems and canalizations, the mills, the place names of the area or the irregular layout of the streets.

The Alcazaba is a testimony of the Muslim imprint, prior to the X century, as the chronicles mention the siege of Abderrahman III to the fortress of Fiñana in 913 to put down the uprising of Ibn Hafsun.

The fortified enclosure is located in the upper part of the town, as a defense of the civilian population located at the foot and to control the road that communicated with the interior of the peninsula. But unfortunately the invasion of the houses has been destroying its walls to expand dependencies and today there are only 3 towers (the best known is the Clock Tower) and a line of walls surrounding the town as a defense, in addition to rectangular towers built of lime and sand mortar subsequently plastered.

This Muslim imprint materializes in the urban planning, with irregular and sloping streets, clinging to the contour lines, in the upper part of the municipality, next to the Alcazaba, in contrast to the Christian urban planning of the lower slopes.

It was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Resolution of June 22, 1993 with the category of Monument. Under the protection of the generic Declaration of the Decree of April 22, 1949, and Law 16/1985 on the Spanish Historical Heritage.

Hermitage of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (former mosque)

Front view of the Hermitage

The first reference to this building appears dated May 26, 1505, in the erection of benefices and sacristies carried out by Fray Pedro de Deza in Segovia, already as a Catholic church, specifically as a hermitage of Santiago. Built in the late 12th century or early XIII, according to the analysis of the plasterwork, the Fiñana mosque has today become the only Almohad complex on the peninsula that, despite the passage of time and the attacks suffered, preserves the oratory with its qibla and part of the decoration that adorned the front of the mihrab, constituting the most complete building of all those preserved in the Iberian Peninsula from that time.

At the beginning of the XI century, Fiñana was a coveted place due to its strategic location on the Almería-Guadix communication axis, appearing cited by al-Idrisi (1099-1164) when he describes the itinerary between both cities. The Fiñana Mosque, current hermitage of Jesús Nazareno, is undoubtedly the most important testimony of its Almohad past, its presence was already pointed out by Torres Balbás, but it has been a recent study carried out by Carmen Barceló and Antonio Gil Albarracín (1994) which supports its chronology based on the epigraphy on the cover of its mihrab, placing the construction at the end of the XII century and early 13th century (1180-1224).

The oratory room is divided into three naves separated by two lines of three horseshoe arches each. The most remarkable thing is the front of the mihrab, whose hexagonal floor plan was completed with a dome, symbol of the universe and the absolute power of Allah. In the restoration carried out in 1986, by the architect Eduardo Blanes Arrufat, its most notable characteristics were respected.

The Sala del Oratorio and Las Yeserías stand out from this mosque:

Oratory Room

The Oratory room presents an apparently square space, divided into three naves by two arches parallel to each other. They are made up of three horseshoe arches that rest on four octagonal or square pillars that taper at their corners almost from their upper limit, distant memory of a capital. The central nave, the only one that has a uniform size, leads from the entrance door to the part currently occupied by the altar of the hermitage. Above it, framing the mouth of the exedra where the image of the Nazarene is located, stands out a extraordinary islamic plasterwork.

Islamic plasterwork

Islamic plasterwork consists of a broad band in the shape of a "U" reversed. Three cloths with floral decoration stand out. The one in the center is destroyed and has practically disappeared. The two outer ones are bordered by bands with epigraphic signs. The inscriptions were engraved using two calligraphic varieties: Kufic, characterized by its angular and geometric lines; and the cursive, which in these plasterwork barely presents diacritical points, vowels, or other usual orthographic signs in this type of writing. The best-preserved texts were made in italics, found on the outer strips.

The current hermitage is an old Almohad mosque, of which only the minaret and patio are missing, in addition to the remodeling of the mihrab. It was adapted for Christian use as a hermitage of Santiago in 1502, thus showing the triumph of those who advocated religious intransigence against Muslims and non-compliance with the capitulations regulating peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians. It is the only example of a mosque preserved in the province.

It is a small building with an almost square floor plan whose prayer room is divided into 3 naves thanks to two rows of horseshoe arches raised on pillars, devoid of decoration and capital, according to the models of simplicity and asceticism of the Almohad tradition..

But the most notable space is the niche of the main altar housing the image of the Nazarene, a space possibly built around the XVII century taking advantage of the hole in the old mihrab. This is the most important element of a mosque and symbolizes the presence of Allah in the prayer room, standing on the wall of the qibla or back of the mosque. Its octagonal plan was originally covered with a dome, a symbol of the Universe and the absolute power of Allah, according to a similar, but simpler model, to that of the Cordoba mosque.

Cultural Entities

Ethnological Museum

The interior of the museum has been divided into eight different rooms that recreate the way of life of the fiñanera town at the beginning of the century. The museum has an old kitchen where you can see various wooden utensils of the time; an inner courtyard; rooms adapted to an old structure and rooms where different implements are collected that reproduce the traditional trades carried out by the fiñaneros. The visitor can appreciate prints of the tailoring of the time, tin craft, carpentry gadgets, farm implements and a series of ancient devices.

True treasures: The City Council has donated the typical costume of Fiñana to exhibit it in the museum, as well as various tools of the time. But the highlight is the transfer of a bank granted by the Catholic Monarchs to the Fiñanera town hall. Likewise, the consistory has delivered several paintings corresponding to the different contests of the town.

Museum of Recreation

Photographic exhibition: The school, the music bands, the parties, the weddings, the communions, the buildings... A journey through the photographs provided by the fiñaneros. Ideally, at that moment there is an older person in the museum who will tell you about the people who appear in each snapshot.

Historical Recreation Museum

Opened in 2021, it has 4 rooms dedicated to characters of the time who are represented in the recreation, with their biographies and clothing; weapons and belongings of the time; projection and conference room; as well as a design and sewing workshop that makes the new costumes used in Recreation throughout the year.

Gastronomy

Gastronomy represents the culture of a people. It is influenced by the climate, the economy, the natural resources of the place, the seasons of the year and religious festivities. The typical dishes are porridge and Zaramandoña.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Parties

• January 17: San Antonio Abad, Patrons.
• January 20: San Sebastian, Patrons. It is much the religious fervor with which the Fiñaneros live their patron saints' parties, in honor of San Sebastian and San Antonio de Abad. It is very typical that the neighbors of this village, during the procession journey, open their doors to all the attendees to offer them the typical products of this town.
• Thursdaylardero (Thursday before Wednesday of ash): The practice of all the people, goes out to spend a day of camp in family or gang.
• Holy Week: The people have images like those of the Virgin of the Dolores, Jesus Cautive, St John, Our Father Jesus Nazarene (the end of the centuryXVII), the Holy Sepulchre, Christ of Light and the Risen One.
• May 3: Day of the Cross, known as the Day of Lettuce.
• May 15: Romería de San Isidro at the Ratonera Sales.
• Corpus Cristi: In the celebration the streets of the village are adorned with vegetation on the banks of the river, and small altars are made decorated in different corners of the village. They do two processions, one in the morning, from the Church to the hermitage of the Anomas; and another in the afternoon, from the hermitage of the Anomas to the hermitage of St.
• 8 to 15 August: Las Fiestas del Sol en la Sierra.
• 19-22 October: The Fair.