Moya historic ensemble

Five enclosures and eight gates

On Moya’s hill, at 1,149 m, are remains from the Middle Bronze Age, around 1500 BC, and Roman coins minted at Bílbilis. The town was conquered in 1183, passed to the Order of Santiago in 1215, came under direct Crown jurisdiction in 1319 and became a marquisate in 1480, with its first lords, Andrés de Cabrera and Beatriz de Bobadilla. Its position between Castile, Aragón and Valencia made it an inland customs post: the lezda, a duty on goods passing between kingdoms, was collected at Torre de San Roque.

The town had five walled enclosures and eight gates. In the first two, around the main square, stood the communal grain store, the 16th-century Concepcionistas convent and six churches, including Santa María, La Trinidad and San Miguel, now a cemetery. There was a Hospital for the Poor and a Captives’ Hospital of the Order of Santiago. Most churches survive only as remains: half the bell gable of San Bartolomé, Gothic jambs of San Miguel, the bulk of the Concepcionistas convent and what remains of La Trinidad. The convent church, from the 16th and 17th centuries, was consolidated in 2005 but remained roofless until a new roof opened on 10 September 2021: outside it retains the old silhouette, while inside curved timber sheets evoke, without copying, lost vaults, arches and dome. It was intended as an auditorium and venue for exhibitions and courses. The castle closes the southern end, and the coracha, a wall protecting access to water, with Torre del Agua, protected the spring.

How it emptied

Moya declined from the 18th century. A centre of resistance to the French in 1808, it lost its 36 dependent villages through confiscation sales and new administration; Cabrera attacked and destroyed it in 1835, and residents moved down to nearby neighbourhoods until the mid-20th century. It became a historic-artistic ensemble in 1982. Sections of wall are now being restored.

Plan your visit

Before you travel

Access is free. There are cobbled streets and ruined walls: do not climb them.

Combine with

Tejeda monastery in Garaballa and Cañete, once its dependent village.