Hermitage of the Virgen de la Zarza

The hermitage

It stands outside Cañete’s walls beside Puerta de la Virgen. Tradition says an image appeared on brambles between the 13th and 14th centuries and a small hermitage was built almost against the wall. Today’s was rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries, in rural Baroque, larger and sturdier. The first retains a freestanding bell gable, built on a stretch of Islamic wall.

A four-bay nave with an image chamber, a plain round-arched doorway and striking bearing blocks in the choir. The Virgin’s carving is Romanesque, transitional to Gothic, heavily repainted later and dressed in Baroque times.

The frontier legend

The image is said to have stood on Castielfabib fortress-church’s gate, appearing one night in Cañete. Castielfabib’s people claimed it, besieged the town without taking it and were defeated by Castilian frontier villages. An agreement was reached: Castielfabib gave up the Virgin and Cañete gave it the iron leaves of its gate, thereafter called La Virgen. Behind the legend are disputes over boundaries, grazing and livestock between 1250 and 1340.

Festivities

The Virgin’s festival runs 7–12 September. On 30 April the mayos, May songs, are sung to her.

Plan your visit

Combine with

Below descends the gorge of El Postigo, with Pozo de la Horca waterfall.