Vera (Almeria)

View of Vera

Vera is a Spanish town and municipality located in the eastern part of the Levante Almeriense region, in the province of Almería. On the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Vera borders the municipalities of Cuevas del Almanzora, Antas, Los Gallardos, Turre, Mojácar and Garrucha.

The municipality of Verat includes the population centers of Vera —municipal capital and seat of its own judicial district—, Cabuzana, Las Marinas, Media Legua, Pueblo Salinas, Puerto Rey, Valle del Este and Vera-Playa.

History

The Vera area has evidence of settlements such as the megalith of Cabezo de las Coscojas, from the Chalcolithic or Cerro del Pajarraco, with evidence of settlement from the copper age to the Punic and Roman ages. The site of Cerro del Espíritu Santo indicates settlement since Roman times as a rural type population under the influence of the civitas de Baria, whose archaeological remains are found in Villaricos. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Baria, like other Hispano-Roman populations, would be abandoned and, according to the historian José Ángel Tapia Garrido, transferred to the hill of Espíritu Santo. During the time of the Caliphate of Córdoba, the population of Bayra, located on the hill of Espíritu Santo, was administratively in the Cora de Tudmir and in the IX had an aljama mosque. In the 12th century it would be an avant-garde border town of the Kingdom of Granada, walled and with a fortress.

In 1488, during the War of Granada, it was besieged by Rodrigo Ponce de León, which led to its capitulation on June 10 before Ferdinand the Catholic. The Christian army plants its camps in the vicinity and the Moors from the towns of the region will come to take the oath of allegiance there. It was constituted as a royal population, comprising Las Cuevas (Cuevas del Almanzora), Teresa, Zurgena and Arboleas, Overa and Lubrín. However, for the payment of royal grants and services rendered during the war, the towns of Las Cuevas (1503), Arboleas (1492) and Lubrín would be constituted as manors.

On the night of November 9, 1518, it suffered an extraordinarily violent earthquake, which caused 150 deaths and totally devastated the town located on the Cerro del Espíritu Santo known since then as Vera la Vieja. The defenselessness before the Barbary pirates, the lack of housing and water supply infrastructures were resolved with the settlement of the survivors in a new location and their repopulation. The popular accounts say that three survivors, after the consent of Carlos I to rebuild the city, shot an arrow and where it fell, they raised the town. However, the location was chosen to fulfill defensive functions. The new population was built in 1520 and had a rational square plan, enclosed by mud walls adorned by eight towers with battlements and two doors. It was then that the church-fortress of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación was built, sober on the outside and Gothic-Mudejar inside, the church of San Agustín, the hermitage of the Virgen de las Huertas and the Plaza Mayor, heart of the city.

With the entry into Vera of Fernando el Católico, on June 10, 1488, the Mudejars are allowed to live and farm in what will be the future place of Antas (as happened between Mojácar and Turre). Converted into Moors after their baptism, their living conditions were better than in the rest of the kingdom of Granada. After the uprising in the Alpujarras and due to the proximity of Abén Humeya, the Christians of Vera allow them to remain within the walls. The Lorca troops warned of the siege placed on Vera and the Moors fleeing to the city, a circumstance that will determine that the people of Vera take that day September 25 as the day of their patron Saint Cleofás.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the uprisings of the Moors and the Berber incursions as a result of the assault on Adra in 1620 caused insecurity and hardship until the expulsion of the Moors from the Kingdom of Granada.

The city of Vera belonged to the district of Baza, which was the second largest in the Kingdom of Granada, in 1787 it had 8,133 inhabitants, it belonged to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishopric of Almería, it was royal and had Bédar and Bédar as annexes. Antas. In the 18th century, attempts at modernization led to the creation of the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Vera, founded in 1775.

The 19th century saw the confiscation of the Convent of Nuestra Señora de la Victoria de los Padres Mínimos, which currently houses a museum and the municipal auditorium. In addition, during the second half of the XIX century there was significant economic development through mining and metallurgical activity in the Sierra Almagrera (Almanzora Caves). In 1840, Ramón Orozco Jerez, from Vera, was the founding owner of the Observación mine, one of the five rich mines of Sierra Almagrera. He was a relevant mining and metallurgical businessman, maintaining relations with Malaga businessmen from Sierra Almagrera such as the Heredia house and making a political career. During this time the population rose to 10,000 inhabitants, with a significant increase in Garrucha, where maritime trade derived from mining activity took place. From this period dates the chimney of the San Jacinto Foundry of the businessman and politician Jacinto María Anglada located in Las Marinas, which is part of the group of foundries in eastern Almeria. Between 1860 and 1877 Pulpí was segregated and in 1861 it was produces that of Garrucha. At the end of the XIX century, emigration to the mining area of La Unión took place.

Starting in the last third of the XX century, the economy resurfaced thanks to its flourishing agriculture of citrus fruits and seasonal horticultural products and entrepreneurial industry. The coast of Vera was established as a tourist place on the Costa de Almería. In 1979 Campin Las Palmeras was opened; The establishment that has disappeared today was the first nudist campsite in Spain. The Hotel Vera Playa Club, the first naturist hotel in Spain, was inaugurated in 1989. At the beginning of the XXI century, during the real estate boom some members of the city council were affected by a case of urban corruption. It currently has several hotel developments, including four four-star hotels, the Valle del Este Golf course and tourist infrastructures.

Geography

Situation

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Interactive map — Vera and its municipality

Integrated in the region of Levante Almeriense, it is located 86 kilometers from the provincial capital.

The relief of the municipality is characterized by a gentle slope that descends from the nearby mountains towards the sea. In terms of hydrography, the Antas River stands out, whose basin includes a series of boulevards, among which the Nuño del Salvador boulevard stands out. In the north of the term there are also small boulevards and ravines of little importance from the hydrographic point of view. The altitude oscillates between 193 meters (El Hacho) and sea level. The town stands 102 meters above sea level.

Northwest: Cuevas del Almanzora	North: Cuevas del Almanzora	Northeast: Cuevas del Almanzora
West: Announcements		This: Mediterranean Sea
Southwest: The Gallardos	South: The Gallardos, Turre and Mojácar	Sureste: Garrucha

Nature

The wetlands of the Puerto Rey lagoon and the Salar de los Canos stand out.

Laguna de Puerto Rey

Special Conservation Area (ZEC) of the Antas River

It occupies about 50 ha of the Antas river divided between Garrucha and Vera. It belongs to the Natura 2000 Network. Its fluvial ecosystems with well-preserved riverside vegetation, habitats of community interest, as well as the presence of specimens of white-headed duck are of special interest.

ZEIPIM Seabeds of Levante Almería

The Specially Protected Area of Importance for the Mediterranean (ZEIPIM) of the Seabeds of Levante Almeriense consists of a wide coastal strip 50 km long off the coast of Vera and other municipalities in the region. It is characterized by the naturalness of its rich and diverse sea beds, with an important presence of the largest oceanic posidonia meadows in Almería and the existence of loggerhead turtles.

Beaches

Playa del Playazo, Vera Playa

The beaches of the municipality are Playa de Puerto Rey, Playazo (not to be confused with Playazo de Rodalquilar) and Playa Vera and Playa de las Marinas-Bolaga with a total length of 5km. Nudism is practiced in the northern section of Playa el Playazo. These are easily accessible beaches, with good services and equipment.

Demographics

In 2021 it had 17,700 inhabitants, and its surface area is 58.11 km².

Graph of demographic evolution between 1900 and 2016

Graphic of demographic evolution of Vera between 1900 and

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

Population by nuclei

Politics

Vera Town Hall in the Plaza Mayor (1882), houses the Municipal Historical Museum

Public administrations

The courts are located in the municipality, since the Judicial District of Vera nº4 of Almería has its headquarters.

Municipal government

The results in Vera of the last municipal elections, held in May 2019, are:

Communications

Connections

Roads

Highways, highways and national highways that pass through Vera: The town is accessed by the N-340a road, an old section of the A-7 motorway (Algeciras-Barcelona) which after the construction of the bypass has remained only for access to the town. This road has two links with the A-7 highway and in one of them it also links with the A-1200 road (Vera-Garrucha). There is also the AP-7 highway that connects the municipality with Cartagena.

Railway

The high-speed connection with the Region of Murcia runs through the municipality, where a train station is planned.

Buses

In the municipality there is a bus station, where there is transport to Almería and Cartagena, in addition to the rest of the municipalities in the region and the Huércal-Overa hospital.

Air Transportation

The nearest airport is Almería Airport, which is 81 kilometers away. 8 kilometers away is the Garrucha Aerodrome, whose runway is dirt and is used for emergency landings.

Urban transportation

Bus

There is a regular urban bus line, Line 20, which connects the different town centers with the beaches. It works from Monday to Saturday in summer.

Taxi

There is a taxi company that provides a 24-hour service, as well as other services to other cities, airports or more specific services such as accompaniment to hospitals and waiting.

Public services

Education

It is endowed with the Early Childhood and Primary Education Centers (CEIP) Ángel de Haro, Los Cuatro Caños, and Reyes Católicos. In addition, there are the IES (Institutes of Secondary Education) Alyanub and El Palmeral. In Vera there are also the private centers Valdeserra and Ludenia. It is endowed with the Diego Garrido López music school and the Barea Center for Permanent Adult Education.

Health

It has a health center in Vera and an auxiliary office in Puerto Rey. Its reference hospital is the Hospital de la Inmaculada.

Security

There is a post and detachment of the Civil Guard and a Local Police station.

Economy

Commercial center of Levante Almeriense, with a traditional market on Saturdays, where farmers from all over the area come to sell their products directly.

Evolution of outstanding municipal debt

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

Living debt of the City of Vera in thousands of euros according to data of the Ministry of Finance and Ad. Public.

Culture

Mount of the Holy Spirit.

Heritage

It has the archaeological site of Cerro del Espíritu Santo, where there are remains of a castle, cistern and medieval walls, the old Spanish-Muslim city of Bayra and buildings from the Copper Age. It has a viewpoint and an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Civilian

• Casa Ororzco: Built in the nineteenth century by the owners of mining companies, of neoclassical and historicalist style, has three floors.
• 

  Casa Orozco
  Town Hall: Two-storey building with a hyssorian style, has a facade decorated with sillery. In addition to housing the municipal deptities and the Museum of Trades, it has the Historical Archive, which has documents since 1486.
• Bullring: It was built in 1879 neo-Arab style. It houses the Taurian Museum.

Religious

Vera has a varied religious heritage among which stands out:

• Church fortress of Our Lady of Incarnation (1521-1524) is declared a Good of Cultural Interest. Respond to the Mudejar-andaluz fortress type structure to fulfill in turn with a defensive end. Its interior is of late Gothic style, with a large altarpiece made in Canadian pine added in the 18th century with allusions to the worry of the moric attacks.

• St. Augustine Church: Located on the old hospital built in 1520, it stands on the old hermitage. The Tardobarro style building, built in the centuryXVIII It is from a single nave and has ornacinas among the inner counters that have a few pilasters of Tuscan order.
• 

  Our Lady of the Angustia Church
  Hermitage of the Virgin of the Angustias. It's a century building.XVIIwith profound reforms at the end of the centuryXIX, which have given him a neo-gothic style with some elements of the neo-barrocus. It is a single nave with three sections and houses the image of the Vera Patron, in addition to an eclectic altarpiece of the centuryXX..
• Hermitage of the Virgin of the Huertas and Hermitage of San RamonXVIII)

Cultural Entities

Museums

Vera has a network of municipal museums made up of 9, which are distributed throughout the municipality:

• Ethnoarcheological Thematic Park: Reproduction of a Copper Age Cottage as a Center for the Interpretation of the Culture of Los Millares.
• Conventual Museum of the Order of the Minimum Fathers: Composed by the church of the former convent dating from the seventeenth century, it is used as an exhibition room and as a Conventual Museum of the Order, from its foundation to the Desamortization of Mendizábal in the nineteenth century.
• 

  Interior of the Historical Museum of Vera
  Water Culture Interpretation Centre: Composed of the "Source of the Four Caños", of Arab origin and transformed in the nineteenth century with its current form and the Municipal Laundry, which was built in the twentieth century.
• Municipal Historical Museum Museum of the union trades: Recreates various tiptian trades in the region with the exhibition of tools and tools, as well as the furniture of a rural house of Vera in the mid twentieth century.
• Centro de Interpretación Museum of the Medieval City of Bayra: Located in the hermitage of the Cerro del Spirit exposes archaeological pieces and reviews the documentary history of the site.
• Taurino Museum: Located inside the Plaza de Toros, the history of the tauromaquia is reviewed in the municipality, with the exhibition d eobjetos, costumes and posters.
• Museo-Centro de Interpretación del Habitat Rural (CENIHA): It shows the Natural and Cultural Heritage of the municipality from all fields: ethnological, historical, architectural, artistic...
• Museum of Contemporary Outdoor Sculpture:Museic assembly of sculptures made in white marble.
• Paleontological Interpretation Centre. Museo de Fósiles Marinos: Formed by a fossil exhibition among which the remains of a prehistoric whale stand out.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Pregnancy of the Jew on Good Friday

Holy Week in Vera is of Andalusian tourist interest, hosting several processions throughout it. There are four brotherhoods: Jesús Nazareno, Virgen de las Angustias, San Juan and Virgen de los Perdones; the San Cleofás Group and the Mayordomía de San Antón. It develops as follows:

Palm Sunday

Parade of the Borriquita through the town by the San Cleofás Group. Before the procession the palms are blessed.

Holy Monday

Ways of the Cross from the Parish Church.

Holy Tuesday

The Infant and Youth Brotherhood of the Virgen de los Perdones and Jesús de la Esperanza parade. The Virgen de la Soledad is processed by children between 8 and 12 years old, the Paso de Jesús de la Esperanza by young people between 12 and 18 years old and the Virgen de los Perdones among young people between 18 and 21 years old.

Holy Wednesday

Since 2017, the Captive Christ and the Virgin of Purity have been in procession by the Mayordomía de San Antón, one step is carried by men and the other by women. They leave from the hermitage of San Antón and on the way they are greeted by saetas.

Holy Thursday

Procession of the risen Jesus in Resurrection Sunday

Procession of the Royal and Venerable Brotherhood of Saint John the Evangelist and Holy Christ of Mercy that takes two steps: The Prayer in the Garden, carried on a sack and the Christ of Mercy carried by men on the throne.

Good Friday

In the morning, Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno is processed in a procession from the Hermitage of San Antón to the Plaza Mayor. There a Roman soldier reads the "Cry of the Jew" where the sentence of Pontius Pilate is read. Since 2017, the "Cry of the Angel" has been read, which disappeared in 1958, where a group of children dressed as angels recite the text where Jesus accepts his sentence. Then the Royal Archconfraternity of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno processions the Crowned Virgin of Mercy. At night the Illustrious and Venerable Brotherhood of Our Lady the Blessed Virgin of Sorrows (Holy Burial) with the Christ of the Column and the Holy Sepulcher procession.

Holy Saturday

The Easter Vigil is celebrated in the Church.

Easter Sunday

The Risen Christ is taken in procession where along the way gifts are given to him that are auctioned at the end of the procession at the door of the Hermitage of San Ramón.

Gastronomy

In addition to the local fish, Vera has several typical dishes such as gurullos with rabbit, torticas de avío, ajo colorao, stewed balls, wheat pot, Mudejar-style pork tenderloin, drunken cake from the Padres Mínimos de Vera, date cake, balls or oil cakes.^{[< i>citation required]}

The citizens of Vera usually consume many of these typical dishes on the day of la Vieja, a typical festival of the town that is celebrated in March and consists of young children beating and throwing stones to a doll of an old woman made of paper that contains trinkets inside.

Sports

Sports facilities

In the municipality there are a series of municipally owned sports facilities:

• Sports Pavilion Blas Infante: Formed by a sports track of parquet and a capacity for 2,000 spectators.
• Sport City: Formed by two football fields 7 of artificial grass and a track of athleticism of 400 meters.
• Las Viñas football field: Artificial grass football field that was memodeled and expanded in 2008.
• Pool Cover "Mariana Pineda": Formed by a glass of 25 x 12.5 and other facilities.

They also have private initiative facilities from the Puerto Rey Sports Center. In addition, there is the Vera Aerodrome (LEXX) for sports aviation and the Valle del Este Resort Golf Club.

Sports entities

In soccer there is CD Vera, who played several seasons in the Third Division and currently plays in the Andalusian Primera.

Sporting events

In 2006, it was the sub-venue for the 2006 Copa del Rey de Balonmano, where several matches were played at the Blas Infante Pavilion.

Twinnings

• Benamaurel, Spain
• Lorca, Spain
• Muchamiel, Spain
• Ringerike (Norway)