HIGH MEDIEVAL HERMITS IN MALAGA
In the province of Málaga we find an important sample of Christian monasticism in the Visigothic and Mozarabic periods, hermitages of which the majority maintained their activity for several centuries, until well after the Arab conquest.
On this trip of about 200 km in total, which can also be done in two non-consecutive days taking advantage of a stay on the Costa del Sol, we suggest you visit the four most interesting ones, all of them very similar in structure, two of them in the beautiful city of Ronda, whose visit we also recommend.
Views: 0
Mapa del viaje
Guía del viaje
Día 1
Cave ensemble excavated on a rocky headland. It consists of two rectangular caves not connected with each other, in which the western side was closed by masonry walls. The larger one, oriented towards east, must have been the church, with a single nave covered with a barrel vault, with a semi circular arch surrounding the apse and two small lateral compartments. The other cave, much smaller, could have been a hermit cave.
Cave complex is located in the southernmost sector of a farmhouse, converted into the Andalusian village of Ḏakwīn/Coín, at the confluence of two regional roads. It is located on a prominent height very close to the historic center of Coín, so it must have belonged to a monastery in which a small monastic community must have functioned.
Día 2
Monastic ensemble excavated on the rock, formed by a church and a living area. The church has an irregular shape and a total surface of 272 square metres. It has a central nave with trapezoidal plan ending in a semicircular apse, a vestry and other two naves with altars and niches on the end walls, located on the sides of the central one in a radial position starting at the main entrance with a semicircular arch.
Church, from the 9th or 10th centuries, which can be valued as a simple church with a single nave or as a basilica, due to the rocky pillars that give way to a tripartite apse that would remind us in a certain sense of those of Bobastro, although the separation in three ships. In any case, there seems to be no doubt about its status as a monastic church of a suburban nature, since it was located outside the Ronda wall.