Águilas

ABOUT

This town stands on a coastal area of 35 km, under the surveillance of its beautiful castle of San Juan de las Águilas and on the southern-most tip of the region. This municipality has been inhabited since the Palaeolithic age, and many other cultures, including the Argaric, Phoenician, Roman and Moslem people, have left traces here. Of particular interest are the Roman remains, especially the baths, which date from the 1st to 4th century.

HERITAGE

Of the town's monuments, the Town Hall is of particular interest; it is a neo-Mudejar building from the 19th century, located in the Plaza de España, with age-old gardens and an old fountain dominated by a swan, popularly known as "the turkey on the pond". The square is surrounded by a few Modernist buildings, the 19th-century church of San José, which contains the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, who is the patron saint of the town. The historical quarter still has the environment of the seafaring quarters, dedicated to fishing, and is crowned by the castle-fortress of San Juan de Águilas. This tower-fortress was built around 1579 for defence purposes and was later rebuilt in the 18th century. In the Paseo de Parra, there is a monument to the railway, proof of the importance this means of transport once had for the population.

HISTORY

As a modern town, Águilas was born of the enlightened thought of Charles III and his ministers Aranda and Floridablanca, who sought a port for the export of the agricultural products of the river plain of Lorca, and Águilas was the natural departure point for the entire region. The new town, with its rectilinear layout, became a commercial center on the up, reaching its zenith in the 19th century with exploitations of silver, lead and iron and the construction of the railway line and the pier of El Hornillo by British companies. Nowadays, Aguilas conserves its seafaring tradition and its deep-rooted vocation as a tourist resort.