Plaza Ochavada
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The culminating construction of
Archidona’s urbanism is realized in this 18th century production, a work by the local
master builders, Antonio Gonzalez Sevillano and Francisco Astorga Frías. The works were
started with the intentions of mitigating the endemic problem of the unemployment, at the
same time as works were done on cleaning up and sewerage of the town and the rubbish tip
of San Roque was removed, an unhealthy place situated in the town. The octagonal design used, comes from a cultured and court model,
"French style", a solution which was being used in the new towns of Sierra
Morena. The achievement of its authors is in being able to harmoniously combine a solution
of classicist ancestry with the popular and authoctonous intimate language of the
Andalusian courtyard, with Muslim roots.
The wise mixture of red brick and whitewashed stretch of
wall, together with the mannerist design pumped with Mudejarism, allows to comment about a
local style, which continues with other buildings in Archidona, such as the sanctuary of
the Virgen de Gracia, the Pious schools and the facade and tower of the Minimums. |
