Aracena

Aracena (Spanish pronunciation: [aɾaˈθena]) is a town and municipality located in the province of Huelva, south-western Spain. As of 2012, the city has a population of 7,814 inhabitants. The town gives its name to the Sierra de Aracena, part of the Sierra Morena system.

Aracena is the largest town in the Parque Natural Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche. In 2006, Aracena was named a Tourist Municipality of Andalucía and became the first town in the province of Huelva to achieve this status.

Main sights

Aracena Castle

Prominent attractions in the town include Aracena Castle and the Priory Church, together known as the Castillo-Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, built between the 13th and 15th centuries over the ruins of an earlier castle. The oldest sections are of late Gothic-Mudéjar style.

Aracena Castle was erected in the thirteenth century, during the Islamic period, and was itself built on the site of an ancient Moorish castle. The walled enclosure was partitioned inside, with the tower of homage, or castle keep, defending the barrier that divided its interior. The population of Aracena settled around this structure, giving rise to the current urban landscape. During the late Middle and Modern Ages, Aracena continued growing from the Cerro del Castillo [Castle Hill] into the valley, first as unattached land dependent on Seville and later, in the seventeenth century, as a feudal estate under the jurisdiction of the Count-Duke of Olivares. Still later, it was under the Count of Altamira, who carried the title of Prince of Aracena.

Huelva

Huelva (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈwelβa]) is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. It is located along the Gulf of Cádiz coast, at the confluence of the Odiel and Tinto rivers. The city has been inhabited since 3000 BC. According to the 2010 census, the city had a population of 149,410. Huelva is home to Recreativo de Huelva, the oldest football club in Spain.

Location and history

A maritime town between the rivers Anas (modern Guadiana) and Baetis (modern Guadalquivir), it was situated on the estuary of the River Luxia (modern Odiel), and on the road from the mouth of the Anas to Augusta Emerita (modern Mérida).

The city may be the site of Tartessus; it was called Onoba by the Phoenicians. The Greeks kept the name and rendered it Ὄνοβα. It was in the hands of the Turdetani at the time of conquest by Rome, and before the conquest it issued silver coins with Iberian legends. It was called both Onoba Aestuaria or Onuba (used on coinage) during Roman times, or, simply, Onoba. The city was incorporated into the Roman province of Hispania Baetica. The Arabs then called it Walbah and ruled between 714-1250. It suffered substantial damage in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.