TOUR OF LA MEDINA (historical quarter)

Walking around the historical quarter of the city, one can still appreciate the medieval layout of the street which the Moorish Murcians wandered around. The streets are narrow, but very cool in summer and they provide shelter from the freezing winter winds. There are still traditional neighbourhoods which have kept their medieval appearance with Baroque churches in the place where there once were mosques: San Lorenzo, San Bartolomé, Santa Catalina, San Pedro and San Nicolás. Santa Eulalia, an old Jewish quarter, is also worthy of mention, as there you can find the remains of a medieval door through which the Aragonese monarch Jaime I the Conqueror made his triumphant entrance.

The growth of the Islamic city created a densely populated area on the outskirts: "El arrabal de la Arrixaca" (the San Antolín and San Andrés neighbourhoods). A chapel, where the Mozárabes and Christian merchants prayed to the Virgin of Arrixaca, once existed there. This virgin, who was represented in the "Cantigas Alfonsíes", was the patron of Murcia until the beginning of the XVIII century, and her wooden image is kept in San Andrés church, next to the Salzillo. Very close by, in the Plaza de las Agustinas, the city museum has recently been opened. There are several rooms dedicated to Islamic Murcia, where models and high quality artefacts are on show.

The Moorish geographers and travellers who visited our city described the magnitude of its defences in astonishment. The monumental remains of the Islamic wall, which have been conserved are numerous. Actually, the wall was formed by a "barbacana" or external barrier, a patrol walkway and the wall itself, higher than the front part of the wall, and was marked by strong defensive towers, like those conserved in Verónicas or Santa Eulalia. In the parish of San Antolín, remains can be found in a chapel and in an art gallery situated in the Calle del Pilar.

Like all Muslim cities, Murcia had a citadel or "alcazaba" an isolated area where the emir, the noble government and the court resided. Many centuries later, it is still the place where the local and religious authorities (Ayuntamiento and Palacio Episcopal) can be found. During a recent archaeological excavation, which took place next to the church museum of San Juan de Dios (the old fortress mosque), the remains of an Islamic oratory with a "mihrab" were found. It will be possible to visit this soon. The archaeological excavations taking place in our Cathedral have discovered the remains of the "aljama" or main mosque, conserved below the ground there. Outside the Christian temple, you can admire the Gothic facade in the Plaza de los Apostoles, whilst inside you can visit the medieval chapels, such as that of San Antonio or Los Vélez.

However, without doubt, the most monumental architectural remains belong to the "Seguir" fortress or the minor fortress of the Murcian emirs. It consists of a fortified palace built in the mid eighteenth century on the ruins of the previous palace which dated from the twelfth century. Inside the Santa Clara la Real Monastery the hall has been conserved with its bedchambers and the north porch, all of which is richly decorated with polychrome plasterwork and monumental arches which will soon be opened to the public. Some remains of the fortress (those which belong to the south hall and to the west wing) have been conserved and can be visited in the basement and exhibition hall of the Cultural Centre in Las Claras.