| The very name, Antequera, suggests, in English, an | | | | The entire collection is from the churches in the town |
| ancient place due to the name's similarity with the | | | | and fills the vast majority of the imposing and |
| English word antique. In fact antique, ancient or old has | | | | impressive Palace of Najera in which the museum is |
| nothing to do with the origin of the name. The town | | | | housed. Where did the intervening 1400 years go, what |
| was first named by the Romans, Antikaria and later by | | | | about the Visigoths and Moors? For that matter what |
| the Moors, Medina Antaqira. Perhaps this is the first | | | | happened between 1800 BC and 100 AD? El Efebo |
| disappointment when visiting this town that receives | | | | stands there as a solitary monument, caught in a time |
| such great revues in any information supplied by the | | | | warp with no discernible past or future. |
| Andalucian tourist office. | | | | It is obvious that tracing Antequera's heritage is going |
| When you look closely at the information you realise | | | | to be more difficult than first thought. A visit to the |
| that there is not that much there. The dolmens, some | | | | oldest part of the town may provide some clues. |
| of the finest in the Iberian peninsula, rate a mention, as | | | | Overlooking Antequera is the 13th Century Moorish |
| does the nearby limestone massif called El Torcal, but | | | | Alcazaba and Homenaje tower. Both are reached via |
| the town itself receives little attention. There had to be | | | | the gate called the Arch of Giants, built in 1585, so |
| a reason for this omission. Like any other place | | | | named because at one time the arch had a huge |
| Antequera had to have a past, and a reason for being | | | | statue perched on top of which only the feet now |
| where it is. | | | | remain. Nearby is the recently excavated Roman bath |
| A glance at a map of Andalucia will show you that | | | | house. As far as Roman and Moorish remains go, that |
| Antequera is situated on a rock buttress north of | | | | is about it, but even that is instructive. It is likely that the |
| Malaga at a crossroads between the natural routes | | | | town under the Romans and Moors was very small |
| from Malaga to Cordoba and Seville to Granada. The | | | | and centred on the hill on which the remains sit with |
| surrounding valley of the Guadalhorce river is one of | | | | villas and farms scattered around the valley, its main |
| the most fertile areas in Andalucia. It's situation is | | | | purpose would have been to provide a focal point for |
| probably the reason for it's existence, even in 2500 BC | | | | the market. The Moors had been in occupation for |
| when La Menga, the first of the three great dolmens | | | | some five hundred years before they felt sufficiently |
| were built, there was a trading network through the | | | | threatened by the Christian kings to build a small |
| region consisting of metallic ores from the Seville | | | | fortress. |
| region and copper and bronze tools and weapons | | | | From the fortress you can see over the whole of |
| from the Almeria area. Food cultivated in the valley | | | | Antequera. Almost within stones throw of the walls |
| travelled in all directions to support other communities. | | | | are 12 convents, 24 churches and a dozen palaces, all |
| When La Menga was filled to capacity with over 500 | | | | built in the styles known as Renaissance (15th and 16th |
| bodies, the bronze age communities built Viera in about | | | | centuries) and Baroque (17th and 18th Centuries). This |
| 2000 BC and then Romeral around 1800 BC. | | | | again tells us much. Following the taking of the town by |
| Having established the reason why the town is where | | | | Don Fernando in 1410 the wealth generated by the |
| it is a visit to the museum should have filled in the | | | | trade through the town attracted the rapacious |
| historical gap between 2500 BC and today. Unusually | | | | attention of the church and then the nobility who all built |
| for Spain there is an admission fee of 3 Euros, the | | | | to impress each other and, at the same time, subdue |
| entrance is through a huge door where you ring the | | | | the serfs. The small houses crowded round these fine |
| bell to gain entry and you have to be accompanied by | | | | buildings all date from this period. In typical Christian |
| a guide (English speaking) throughout your visit. This | | | | manner, most traces of previous civilisations were |
| augured well, great things must be hidden here. The | | | | eradicated, thereby explaining the lack of remains |
| first exhibit is that of a bronze statue of a teenage | | | | today. A wonderful remnant of the church's methods |
| servant boy. A farmer found this first century AD | | | | of domination by fear lies in the names of two streets, |
| work of art, now called El Efebo de Antequera, in 1955. | | | | Calle Del Infierno running parallel to the Calle Purgatorio. |
| It is thought to have been taken from a Roman villa | | | | A more lasting means of control is through the 19 |
| discovered near Antequera a few years ago that is | | | | fraternities in the town. Fraternities are religious bodies |
| still being excavated. El Efebo has been exhibited | | | | that also wield great political power and possess |
| around Europe as an outstanding piece of Roman art. | | | | enormous wealth. Membership is exclusive and passed |
| The guide then takes you to the next section, a display | | | | from father to son. Their wealth is paraded annually |
| of paintings, figures, crosses, and vestments dating | | | | during the religious processions. A silver cross, owned |
| from the 16th Century to the present day and still used | | | | by one such fraternity, on display in the museum, takes |
| in the Santa Semana street processions at Easter. | | | | 90 men to carry. |