Logbook · 11 places

What to see and do in Lorquí

What to see and do in Lorquí (Vega Media del Segura, Murcia): 11 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 2 Activities · 3 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

When to go to Lorquí: festival calendar

October: Festivities of la Virgen del Rosario de Lorquí (primeros días de octubre, festividad principal el 7 de octubre)

Towns near Lorquí

What to see in Ceutí 1.5 km · 14 places
What to see in Alguazas 3.6 km · 18 places
What to see in Molina de Segura 4.7 km · 40 places
What to see in Archena 5.4 km · 24 places
What to see in Las Torres de Cotillas 6.2 km · 19 places
What to see in Villanueva del Río Segura 8.5 km · 17 places
What to see in Ulea 9.3 km · 15 places
What to see in Campos del Río 9.6 km · 13 places

Spain › Region of Murcia › Vega Media del Segura › Lorquí

What to see and do in Lorquí

Lorquí
Village
Lorquí is a municipality in the Region of Murcia, in the Vega Media del Segura, located 18 kilometres from the capital, within its metropolitan area, and crossed by the flood plain of the Segura River, which separates it from the neighbouring municipality of Ceutí. Its name comes from Andalusi Arabic and means one who is from Lorca; the first reference dates from 1285, when the Crown of Castile granted the Mudejar alquería to two nobles, and in 1304 it passed to the Order of Santiago, under whose rule it remained until the mid-19th century. Resettled with Mudejars in 1445, its inhabitants converted to Christianity in 1501 and many were expelled in 1613. It preserves the Rapao waterwheel, an 18th-century hydraulic wheel declared a monument of national artistic interest. It is an industrial municipality of nearly 8,000 inhabitants.
Church of Santiago Apóstol de Lorquí
Monument
Church begun in 1767 in the baroque style, whose completion was delayed until 1799 by financial difficulties, the work of the master builder Pedro Gilabert, with a later neoclassical remodelling that lasted until 1827.
La Cierva Mansion
Monument
Former tower house of the Murcian huerta, possibly of the 18th century, enlarged and turned into a small palace around 1919 by the La Cierva family, an unusual example of the traditional architecture of the Segura's irrigated lands.
Cave houses of Lorquí
Monument
Lorquí has the highest proportion of cave dwellings of any municipality in the Region of Murcia, scattered through the old town and hidden behind modern façades. The 'Los Tablachos' cave museum and the Flamenco Cave on the Plaza Pueblo Nuevo allow visitors to see and learn about this architecture cut into the rock.
Festivities of la Virgen del Rosario de Lorquí
Activity
Patron saint festivities organised by the Festival Committee together with the parish of Santiago Apóstol, with masses in each neighbourhood and the main procession of the Virgen del Rosario through the streets of the town.
Holy Week of Lorquí
Activity
The Holy Week processions of Lorquí have been documented since the eighteenth century, with six brotherhoods accompanied by drums and flowers, venerating a rich array of images in the Salzillo style, among them the Virgen de los Dolores and Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno. On Palm Sunday the Passion and Death of Christ is re-enacted; on Holy Thursday the Nazareno gives a blessing towards the four cardinal points; on Good Friday the Descent from the Cross takes place, and on Easter Sunday, the meeting between the Risen Christ and the Virgen de la Luz.
Waterwheel of El Rapao
Monument
An 18th-century irrigation waterwheel declared a National Monument of Artistic Interest, built to water more than three hundred tahúllas of huerta in Lorquí.
The grant of Lorquí to the Alemán brothers
Historical milestone
The first documentary mention corresponds to the handing over, in 1285, of the Mudejar farmstead to Ramón and Guillén Alemán by the Castilian Crown. After the Aragonese occupation at the end of the century, James II transferred it to the Order of Santiago, which kept the lordship until the 19th century.
The Mudejar resettlement of 1445
Historical milestone
Depopulated by the insecurity of the Granadan frontier and by the plagues of the 14th century, the place was inhabited again in 1445 with Mudéjar population settled by the Order of Santiago. Their descendants were baptised in 1501 and expelled as Moriscos in 1613.
The La Arboleda agricultural collective
Historical milestone
During the Civil War (1936-1939) the lands that Juan de la Cierva y Peñafiel owned within the municipality were collectivized and worked under the name of La Arboleda, a farming and industrial cooperative managed jointly by UGT and CNT. It was dissolved when the conflict ended.
The pisto of the Vega Media
Food and drink
Stew of tomato, pepper, onion and courgette cooked slowly in olive oil with the vegetables of the banks of the Segura. It is served on its own, set with egg or as a garnish for meat, and gives its name to one of the preparations most identified with this comarca.