VISITS TO THE HISTORIC CENTRE:
RINCÓN DE LA TOBA
CUEVA DE LOS MOROS
CALLE PINTADA
SANTO CRISTO-VEGA DEL RÍO
LOS CANTALARES
BARRANCO ALTO -GÜESARIO- CANTAZORRAS
ERMITA DE LOS REMEDIOS
The village of Ayna offers its visitors a number of lookout points, some of them located in hotels, from which the village looks out onto the river Mundo and the mountains that surround it.
From these lookout points you can see the narrow fertile valley formed by the river, with plantations adapted to the relief of the land, and to which man has adapted remarkably since remote times. This can be seen in the many terraces along the left riverbank, with olive trees and small vegetable gardens.
It is also worth visiting the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Hermitage of our Lady of Remedies). From the outside, this temple appears to be of little interest, much like a normal house, but inside, visitors will marvel at the 16th century Mudéjar coffering, in pine wood.
During the construction of the new church, the masses were held in this hermitage, and later was used as a cinema and a theatre. The new church of Nuestra Señora de lo Alto (Our Lady of Above), was completed in the year 1953, after having knocked down the old church due to its bad condition. However, a tower dating from the 17th century made of ashlar.
Another beautiful place to visit is in the area of La Toba. Going up the steep stairs, visitors will come to a charming natural path that leads you deep into nature and away from the daily chaos that surrounds us in our daily lives.
ETHNOLOGY HOUSE-MUSEUM
Located in the Plaza Mayor (main square) of the village, the house comprises three storeys and a basement, all decorated and restored reproducing the kitchen, bedroom, stables, old tools room, and “the chamber” with the esparto farming tools. This is the location of the Tourism Office.
CUEVA DEL NIÑO (One of the main Cave Painting Sites in Albacete Cave)
Located on the bank of the river Mundo, between the peaks of Halcón (1232 m.) and Albarda (1254 m.) a few kilometres upstream from Royo Odrea, village of Ayna, and very near the border with Bogarra.
Its name –literally, Cave of the Boy- was given to it by the neighbours of the nearby houses (Los Luisos, El Avellano, Carbabos, San Martín, etc.) who called it the "Cueva de los Niñotes" (Cave of the Boys), in reference to the Cave Paintings it houses, although they were not aware of what they were, or of how important they were. It was not until May 1970, when a group of excursionists, interested in caves, arrived there and realised that what they had before their eyes was an important example of cave painting.
A cavern some 60 m. deep, divided into two rooms with a series of columns; each of them houses a panel of Palaeolithic cave paintings.
The main panel, to the South of the cave, on the left wall from the entrance, features two splendid deer (one of them 70 cm. In height), three does, a horse and two mountain goats, both at the sides of the composition, as if closing the structure, with two javelins in their bellies.
The second panel, located in the second room, shows two very small figures in comparison with the first panel: a goat and a horse, with highly stylised and elegant strokes and features. To the left of both figures there is an interesting snake-shaped sign with two strokes, and horizontal lines, approximately 125 cm high.
First room - stalagmites
The chronology of these Palaeolithic paintings, according to Almagro Gorbea, corresponds to the Style III of the sequence proposed by Leroi-Gourhan, dating from the end of the Solutrean or beginning of the Magdalenian periods (between 16500 and 15500 b.C.).
Palaeolithic Paintings
At the entrance of the cave there is a third panel, of Levantine art (7000 b.C.), comprising three human figures in hunting positions.
Levantine Paintings
In 1973, the research team made up of Higss, Davidson and Bernaldo de Quirós, carried out a dig in order to study the materials and their chronology.
They established the following stratigraphic sequence:
- Upper Palaeolithic level (remains of hearths, post holes)
- Epipalaeolithic, with geometric microliths and worked stone flakes
- Upper Neolithic and Early Bronze Age levels in exterior access to Cave.
A clandestine dig discovered a splendid Neolithic vase, with two handles incised with zig-zag decoration, flanked by vertical lines up to the ovoid neck, whereas the neck is decorated with horizontal lines. Martí Oliver dated the vase as from the Old and Middle Neolithic, and its is kept at the Provincial Museum of Albacete, together with other pieces from the cave itself, Davidson’s digs and the surroundings, found by José Luis Serna.
Neolithic Vase
This site is part of the European Network of Early Settlers and Prehistoric Rock Painting (REPPARP in its Spanish acronym), which includes a series of regions in the Southwest of Europe who have partnered to promote the joint development of their tourism and cultural offer based on Pre-history and Rock Painting.
The visit to the Cueva del Niño can only be done with a guide. Setting out from Ayna, it is 16 kilometres by car, on the road, 2 kilometres along a forest path and 45 minutes walking along a mountain path. Visitors are requested to take water, a flashlight and adequate footwear. Bookings should be made several days in advance. For more information please contact the Tourism Office or the Town Council. Tel.: +34 967 29 50 01
ERMITA DE NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LOS REMEDIOS (HERMITAGE OF OUR LADE OF REMEDIES)
Possibly originally a Jewish synagogue which became part of the Christian legacy after the reconquista in the 13th century. Since then, and until 1953 it was the parish church.
Located on the Calle Mayor, from the outside it seems like just another house, but the entrance door, with its Roman arch and voussoirs, announces there might be more to it than first meets the eye.
Inside, it has a rectangular floor plan and a single nave with a flat front; it has a high choir which rests on a wooden beam supported by a Tuscan column with a great base.
The access door to the hermitage is on the gospel side. Today it is rectangular, but the exterior reveals it was once a Roman Arch door with great voussoirs.
The most valuable architectural element in the hermitage is the wooden mudéjar (16th century) ceiling; it is a wood-framed ceiling with two pairs of transversal beams and four angular beams. It is decorated with tracery, with spectacularly ornamental knots, with a pendant in the centre with honeycomb work.
Mudéjar Coffering - Pendant
Mudéjar Coffering
On the main altar wall there are five niches, presumably once belonging to an altarpiece; the two niches at the sides have a blue background with silver stars; of the three central ones, the two side ones have a red/orange background with line drawing vegetation motifs in black and grey tones set out symmetrically; the middle one does not have any design painted on it. The style of these paintings suggests they date from the mid-18th century.
Of greater interest are the paintings on the walls at the base and the epistle side, as the theme of the paintings is very unusual in provincial wall painting. There are three portions of a frieze featuring a penitential procession, probably during Easter, with musicians, flagellant Nazarene penitents, Nazarene penitents carrying an statue and others with long burning torches.
Nazarene penitents, carrying statue
Because it is popular painting it is difficult to date accurately, as these painters tended to copy, rather than create, from images and etchings from all periods; however, they are probably from the second half of the 18th century.
In the Civil War period it was used as a canteen, from the 60s it was the village cinema and it is currently used as an exhibition venue.
It was declared a Property of Cultural Interest in 1992.
(Extract from article by José Sánchez Ferrer. Revista Cultural Albacete no. 6)
PARROQUIA DE SANTA MARÍA DE LO ALTO (PARISH OF SAINT MARY OF ABOVE)
Temple built in 1953 on the remains of the Castle of Yedra and the old hermitage of the patron saint, the Virgin of the Above.
Iglesia parroquial Santa María de lo Alto (Parish Church of Saint Mary of the Above)
The tower is of particular interest, dating from the 17th century, and built in ashlar. It belonged to the original hermitage. The three bells date from the 18th-19th centuries.
Small tower bell
In the interior, the image of Baby Jesus Resurrected ("niño de la pata coja" –the child hopping- ), a copy of the disappeared image by Roque López (of the Salzillo school) and the image of the virgin, both carved in wood.
The main altar is decorated with oil paintings by Cruz J. Calderón, in 1963, representing the annunciation, the nativity and the coronation of Our Lady and the Holy Trinity, surrounded by angels.
At the sides, there are two coats of arms: The Vatican’s and that of the Diocese of Albacete.
To the right of the main alter is the chapel of Holy Christ, built in 1972.
YEDRA CASTLE
Originally an Arabic fortification (12th century), like almost all the castles in the area. Located in one of the highest points of the village, on a rocky formation with a natural entrance, today called "Cueva de los Moros", dominating the valley in both directions. From 1213 it was used by the Christians under the order of the Concejo de Alcaraz, to which Ayna belonged. It suffered many attacks, as it was at the border with the Muslims..
Yedra Castle - Cueva de los Moros
In 1455 the governor was Don Alfonso de Montiel, who ordered that the Castle be refurbished.
In 1565, Ayna officially became a village, and was independent of the town of Alcaraz. The document attesting this states:
"This castle protected us from the Moors, resisting with arms to those from Granada and Baza. 25 noblemen were in this castle, free and exempt from all tributes, many of whom died in captivity for defending the territory and the Holy Catholic Faith ".
Today few remains of the walls stand; only those on the “camino viejo” (old path), in the so-called “Cueva de los Moros” (Cave of the Moors), where there is also a well at the top, and at the foot of the houses opposite the church. (Many of the wall’s stones were used for the construction of the current parish church).
ERMITA DEL SANTO CRISTO DE LAS CABRILLAS (HERMITAGE OF HOLY CHRIST OF THE PLEIADES
Located in the quarters and street of the same name, this is a small hermitage with a square nave and hipped roof, dating from the 18th century.
Ermita del Santo Cristo de las Cabrillas (Hermitage of Holy Christ of the Pleiades).
According to the legend, an Andalusian muleteer entered the village, making his way up the steep street with a donkey loaded with skins of oil, the donkey slopped, the muleteer prayed to the Lord, associating Him with the Pleiades, and the load fell to the ground, without a single drop spilling.
A hermitage was built, and the celebration of the Day of Cross started, in early May, with a romería or pilgrimage to the area of La Toba, where a flowered cross was bathed. Today, a mass is held, and a refreshing drink is offered to the attendants.
EL SALERO
Arabic salt mine, located new the municipality of Lietor. Private property.
VILLA TITLE SCROLL
This document, a scroll of incalculable value, granted by King Philip II in 1565, by which we became independent of the town of Alcaraz and became our own municipality, including the current municipalities of Elche de la Sierra and Molinicos, which in turn became independent in the course of the 19th century.
Villa Title
It is approximately ten pages long, richly adorned with the coat of arms of King Charles V, images of Yedra castle, the Nativity of Virgin Mary, etc, in addition to Philip II’s typical signature:
"Yo el Rey" (I, the King)
Coat of Arms of Charles V
It is currently kept at the Provincial Historic Archives, although a copy may be purchased, next to the study of it and the lead seal, a replica of the original, made by the Institute of Albacete Studies "Don Juan Manuel".
