Lucena

Geography

Lucena is located in the transition zone between the campiña in the Guadalquivir Depression and the Subbaetic system, at an altitude above mean sea level slightly below 500 meters. The Subbaetic system includes neighboring subranges such as the sierras of Cabra, Carcabuey, Pollos, Horconera, and Rute.

History

Despite claims of association with earlier locations (such as ancient Erisana), Lucena did not enter historical record until the period of Islamic rule. It was first mentioned in an 853 responsum which described Lucena (Alisana), then part of the Emirate of Córdoba, as "a city of many Jews" with "no Gentile in its midst". The city then belonged to the Kūra (district) of Cabra. The Jewish scholars of Lucena maintained correspondence with the geonim of the Sura Academy in Babylonia. Some gravestones unearthed in the Jewish necropolis of Lucena have been tentatively dated to the 9th–10th centuries. Already in the 10th century, Lucena's Jewry competed in importance with Córdoba's. Amid the fitna of al-Andalus that brought the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 11th century, Lucena became part of the Zirid Kingdom of Granada.

At the beginning of the 11th century, several important Jewish scholars lived in Lucena. Isaac Alfasi founded a large Talmudic academy in Lucena, and here also Isaac ibn Ghayyat, Isaac ibn Albalia, and Joseph ibn Migash were prominent.

Jews in Lucena drastically decreased in number upon the onset of Almoravid and Almohad rule, with Jews fleeing to locations of the Iberian Peninsula's Christian North (such as Toledo), being forcefully converted to Islam or being deported as captives to North Africa. The Talmudic academy was relocated to Toledo by ibn Migash's sons. The Almohad conquest of Lucena took place in 1148. Jewish commentator Abraham ibn Ezra lamented the fall of Lucena to the Almohads as if it were a sort of a minor Jerusalem. Whatever the case, Lucena effectively ceased to exist then as a Jewish centre.

Lucena was conquered by the Crown of Castile in 1240. It was thereby donated to the Bishop and the Cabildo of the Cathedral of Córdoba in 1241. Lucena remained under Cordobese bishopric control until 1342, when it became a stately possession under Leonor de Guzmán. It was thus granted a fuero similar to Córdoba's in 1344. A borderland town with the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada for the rest of the middle ages, it became a possession of a branch of the House of Fernández de Córdoba in the late 14th century. In 1483, when Muhammad XI of Granada invaded Castile, he was taken prisoner at Lucena.

Population boomed in the early 16th century, growing from 1,300 inhabitants in 1495 to about 8,172 in 1530, owing to the disappearance of the frontier condition in the wake of the Conquest of Granada in 1492. Lucena was then settled by numerous converso families, contributing to the demographic growth. Conversos leaned on serving the ruling aristocracy, the Marquises of Comares. Lucena was granted the title of ciudad ('city') in 1618.

Portuguese immigrants with a converso background such as the Rodríguez settled in Lucena in the early modern period linking with the local Carmona-Castillo converso lineage. Similarly to the situation in other towns of the Kingdom of Córdoba, the Portuguese were involved in sectors of the local economy such as the textile industry and slave trade.

The chief industries are the manufacture of furniture, industrial refrigerators, wine, bronze lamps and pottery, especially the large earthenware jars (tinajas) used in the past throughout Spain for the storage of oil and wine, some of which held more than 300 gallons. Matches also used to be made there. There is considerable trade in agricultural produce. The horse fair in September was famous throughout Andalusia, but since the last decades of the 20th century there is only a fair like in most towns in Andalusia.

Easter celebrations - Semana Santa

Easter, or Semana Santa, is the most important celebration taking place yearly in Lucena, just like in most parts of Spain. However, Lucena's Semana Santa, declared of Special Tourist Interest, is well known for its peculiar and unique way of porting or carrying the "pasos" or processions. All these "pasos" are formed by at least one sculpture, most of the time hundreds of years old. They are carried on shoulders as nowhere else in Andalusia, all porters uncovered (unlike the Seville way) and at the same level (unlike the Málaga way). The way processions are carried in Lucena is called "santería", and it is a particular trait to the city. Santería can best be appreciated on Easter Thursday (Jueves Santo) where 9 "pasos" take the streets. Not to be missed are the Cristo de la Columna, by most renowned sculptor Pedro Roldán, created in 1675, and the impressive Cristo de la Sangre, brought from the Spanish Americas in the beginning of the 17th century.

Best Semana Santa days in Lucena are Palm Sunday (5), Tuesday (7), Thursday (9) and Saturday (1).

Palm Sunday sees 5 "pasos" on the streets belonging to 3 different congregations and churches. They come together at a certain point creating a single procession. Palm Sunday highlights the Cristo de la Bondad and the Oración en el Huerto and the Madonna de la Estrella.

Monday is all consecrated to one only congregation (cofradía), that of the Franciscan brothers. The "pasos" have their quarters at a very pretty Franciscan convent in downtown Lucena. Highlights this day are the "trono" (platform in which the sculptures are carried) of the venerated Medinaceli Christ, and the Virgen de Piedra, a Madonna like that of Michelangelo in the Vatican in Rome.

Tuesday sees 3 different congregations and 7 different "pasos" on the streets of Lucena. First one, the Carmine congregation, founded in 1606 with 3 very old, historical and peculiar "pasos" leaving from the Carmen church in Southern Lucena. Not to be missed the "Virgen de los Dolores", of the old school of Granada sculptures, as well as the "Señor de la Humildad". This congregation is one of the oldest in the city and have kept the same traditions as they were centuries ago.