Loja, Granada

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History

Loja has sometimes been identified with the ancient Ilipula, or with the Lacibi (Lacibis) of Pliny and Ptolemy.[1] It is unknown when Loja was first captured by the Moors; most likely this happened in the 8th century. It first clearly emerges in the Arab chronicles of the year 890.[1]

Reconquista

It was taken by Ferdinand III of Castile in 1226, but was soon afterwards abandoned.[1]

As part of the Granada War, Loja was attacked in 1486 by Christian forces under Ferdinand and Isabella. These soldiers included some Englishmen commanded by Sir Edward Woodville.[2][3] The victorious Spanish allowed the Muslim population to leave for Granada. The town's Moorish name, Medina Lawša, was changed to Lauxa. Isabella called it the "flower among thorns".[4] In 1491 work began on the Church of the Incarnation on the site of the town's main mosque.

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Loxa

19th century

The town was the centre of the Loja uprising in 1861, led by local Template:Ill, that was quickly suppressed.

Transport

In the 1870s a railway line was laid linking Bobadilla and Granada. (As at 2025 the line through Loja is being upgraded as part of a project to improve the Spanish branches of the Mediterranean Corridor).

Main sights

The town's Islamic heritage is still evident in the quarter of the Alcazaba, a Moorish fortress of which most of the walls and towers remain.

Other sights include:

  • Convent of Santa Clara (16th century)
  • Convento of St. Francis of Assisi, including a 16th-century cloister
  • Church of the Incarnation, the main church which was begun in Mudéjar style at the end of the 15th century
  • Church of San Gabriel (16th century)
  • Church of Santa Catalina (16th-17th century)
  • Church of N.tra S.ra Virgen de la Caridad (16th century)
  • Hermitages of Jesus Nazareno, san Roque, and Calvario, 16th century chapels and sanctuaries
  • Caseron de los Alcaides Cristianos (17th century)
  • Palacio de Narvaez (17th century)
  • Fuente de la Mora ("Fountain of the Moorish maiden"), also known as los venticinco canos, a fountain where waters from different springs are made to flow from twenty-five tubes.

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See also

Notes

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  1. a b c d e Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
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  3. Lawrence DR. Christopher Wilkins. The Last Knight Errant: Sir Edward Woodville and the Age of Chivalry. London: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2010. xxii 234 pp. index. append. illus. bibl. £25. Template:ISBN. Renaissance Quarterly. 2010;63(2):631-633. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers".
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References

  • Days in the Sun by Martin Andersen Nexo (1929)


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