Cabra (Córdoba)

Cabra is an Andalusian town in the province of Córdoba with a population of around 21,000 and an area of 229 km². Located in the geographical centre of Andalusia and the Sierras Subbéticas natural park, Cabra is a historic town, famous for its Baroque monuments.

It is one of the oldest towns in the region, where evidence points to the earliest human presence dating to the Palaeolithic. The Romans occupied the area in the third century BC and developed the town centre, then called “Igabrum”. It was also during this era that cereal and olive oil production and quarrying commenced. The Visigoths would shape the town from a religious standpoint, which was an episcopal see and is believed to have lasted even after the Almoravid occupation.

The Moorish walls and castle overlook the old town. Within the walled area stands Cabra’s most important religious building: La Asunción y los Ángeles church, which was built on the site of a mosque.

Baroque dominates the town’s streets and decorates its houses and churches. Los Remedios, Santo Domingo, Los Agustinos and San Juan Bautista churches are just some of the heritage sites worth visiting.

La Villa or El Cerro neighbourhoods are a real highlight and ideal for wandering their cobbled streets lined with whitewashed houses with colourful floral arrangements spilling from balconies.

Cabra is not only famed for its architectural heritage. Its surrounding countryside –marked by a never-ending sea of olive groves– is one of the most important contributions to the province of Córdoba’s natural heritage.

Holy Week is the most important moment on Cabra’s events calendar, during which around thirty brotherhoods, centuries-old traditions and art flood the town’s streets. A tradition kept alive through the figures of Jews and Romans and the sound of drums and trumpets. A unique tradition involving abejorros, elongated trumpets that sound their deep tone to announce the processions’ passing. The sculptures that are paraded through the town’s streets were produced in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and are renowned for their intense dramatic expressions and artistic and devotional interest.

In addition to Holy Week, the town also celebrates several pilgrimages to the La Virgen de la Sierra chapel, in the higher part of the town. The most popular are “La Bajá” on 4 September, during which the Virgin Mary sculpture is carried from the chapel down to the town, and the “Romería del Costalero” (the Costaleros’ Pilgrimage) on the last Sunday in October, when the sculpture is taken back up to her chapel.