Semana Santa Estepa

Seville enchants

The site is a “tell”, a word of Arab origin that designates an artificial mound formed from the accumulated archaeological remains of one civilisation over another.

It is undoubtedly the most picturesque building in the old town. It was built in 1905 by the flamenco singer “Lola, la de Lucena”, and later purchased by the Benjumea family. It was later occupied by a congregation of nuns and is now privately owned.    

The 18th-century temple was built on an old Mudejar temple from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, destroyed by the Lisbon earthquake. The project was completed, among others, by José Álvarez, a neoclassical architect who gave the church its current appearance and style.

Although the Church was built between 1776 and 1836 on the remains of a building destroyed in 1755 in Lisbon earthquake, there are still decorative and building elements that date back to the Visigothic era and the Arab invasion. 

The name "Castillo de Hierro" (Iron Castle) refers to the difficulty involved in conquering it, since its double wall, the thickness of its walls, the absence of a gate, two cisterns and the steepness of the rock made it impregnable. The building, which served as a refuge for the citizens of Pruna, is located on the highest part of the rock and this gives the town its name.

Commonly known as the “Aceña Mills”, these Moorish water mills are mentioned in 18th-century documents as the Saldaña water and fulling mills. They were originally built in Moorish times on the River Guadalquivir between Cordoba and Seville. The current buildings were erected in 1485-1499 on what was likely the site of an 11th-century structure.

On a 300 m. high hill in the very centre of the town, stand the ruins of a medieval castle, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest.