Village
Ceutí is a municipality in the Region of Murcia, in the natural comarca of the Vega Media del Segura, with about 13,000 inhabitants. Its name comes from Muslim times, from Çepti, a word that translates as 'of Ceuta' and would allude to the origin of the first settlers of the alquería located where the old town now stands. The territory, of gentle relief, borders Archena, Lorquí, Alguazas and Villanueva del Río Segura. The municipality experienced a boom in the canning industry between 1925 and 1965, of which seven emblematic brick chimneys are still preserved. The climate is cold semi-arid, with mild winters and hot, dry summers, and scant annual rainfall, below 300 mm.
Monument
Ceutí's most representative monument, whose construction began on 28 February 1956 after the previous church fell into ruin. It has a 32-metre tower and preserves carvings such as that of San Roque and a recumbent Christ made in the school of Francisco Salzillo.
Monument
The remains of the Arab wall of Ceutí (Vega Media del Segura, Murcia) are preserved next to the Plaza Vieja and the parish church, and bear witness to the Andalusi origin of the town. During the Muslim period a hamlet called Benahabiai de Çepti existed in this area, settled on a hill next to the Segura river, in the spot known today as El Alto, the seed of the present-day town.
Monument
Traditional waterwheel in the pedanía of Los Torraos dating from 1789, remodelled several times over its history to irrigate the surrounding huerta.
Activity
Ceutí's main festivities, which include the traditional 'Bajá de San Roque', bullfighting events, street dances, water games, archery competitions, cycle races and fireworks.
Monument
The hermitage of San Roque, in Ceutí (Murcia), has notable architecture, with a red and white dome, and has been restored with an investment of more than 75,000 euros; it retains an emblematic altarpiece by Antonio Campillo. San Roque has been the patron saint of Ceutí since, following a plague epidemic in 1648, the town made a perpetual vow to profess, defend and keep his festival, a commitment undertaken on 30 May of that year.
Monument
Museum housed in a former canning factory in Ceutí, linked to the local industrial heritage, preserving the history and traditions of the municipality. It is also known as the Museum of Vegetable Preserves and Customs, and brings together traces of the everyday life of its people, their popular festivals and other pastimes, with particular attention to the boom the local canning industry enjoyed in the past.
Activity
The Bajada de San Roque is the main festival of Ceutí, in the Vega Media of the Segura. It is held on the night of 7 August, when the image of the saint travels more than a kilometre from his hermitage to the parish church of Santa María Magdalena, accompanied by members of the Peña de San Roque, local authorities, ladies, brass bands and numerous residents of Ceutí who dance behind him carrying red handkerchiefs and sprigs of rosemary. The devotion dates back to 1648, when, after a plague epidemic, the town made a perpetual vow to celebrate his festival. Tradition holds that the saint carries basil, which the members of the peña hand out to those attending, and that his entry into the old town is announced with a string of firecrackers that runs along Calle Don Eloy.
Monument
Hermitage of the Los Torraos district, in Ceutí, built in 1961 and dedicated to San José Obrero and Santa María Magdalena (not just 'Santa María', as this entry's title simplifies it). Restored in 2006, it incorporated a new altarpiece and an image of the patron saint by the sculptor García Mengual, as well as fifteen oil paintings by the painter Saura Mira.
Monument
The La Conservera Contemporary Art Centre occupies, in Ceutí, an old canning factory refurbished by the architect Fernando de Retes, who preserved the building's industrial character with a minimalist, reversible design. Open since 16 May 2009, it has four exhibition halls covering a total of 4800 square metres of exhibition space. Its programme is organised in cycles of four simultaneous in-house productions, featuring artists from different generations, above all from the 1960s and 1970s, with international reach, in disciplines such as painting, sculpture and photography. The site also preserves outdoor sculptures and murals.
Monument
The Antonio Campillo Museum, in Ceutí (Región de Murcia), is dedicated mainly to the Murcian sculptor Antonio Campillo Párraga and displays sculptures and drawings donated by the artist himself: 68 sculptures and around forty drawings that trace his career. It occupies a 19th-century stately home with a modernist façade that the town council acquired in the late 1990s to house the city's ethnographic museum, and which became the sculptor's house museum in 2003, when he donated part of his work. Spread over three floors, the ground floor brings together an overview of his life and religious works, the first floor bronze and fired-clay pieces centred on the figure of the woman, and the second floor a series of sculptures of women on bicycles and on horseback.
Historical milestone
In 1433 the heirs of Pedro Sánchez de Claramunt divided up and sold their shares of the lordship of Ceutí to Gonzalo Fajardo and Sancho Dávalos, who split vassals, revenues and appointments over the same municipal area between them. That dual jurisdiction lasted until the suspension of feudal rights in the mid-19th century.
Historical milestone
On 17 July 1873 a group of cantonalists headed by Pedro Vera Hernández took the town hall and proclaimed Ceutí's adherence to the Murcian Canton. The situation lasted until 13 August, when armed force restored the previous corporation.
Food and drink
Paste of flour, water, olive oil, salt and heads of garlic worked in the pan until it comes away in coarse crumbs. It is eaten in the cold months accompanied by longaniza, grapes or pomegranate, and is the preparation most repeated at the country meals of the municipality.