Aguilar de la Frontera

Aguilar de la Frontera stands on the site of the ancient Ibero-Roman settlement of Ipagrum, which was caught up in the Battle of Munda, the conflict between the supporters of Caesar and those of Pompey. The town's most ancient remains date from this period: a large-scale necropolis. The name Ipagrum is disputed, some read it as meaning "high field," others trace it to the Greek word for horse, *hippos*, a theory given some weight by the fact that a place called Llano de los Caballos still exists within the town's boundaries today.

The Muslim conquest brought a new name, Bulay or Poley, possibly also derived from Greek. In 891, the town's Christian inhabitants and their rebel allies were defeated by the forces of Emir Abdallah, and Poley passed into the jurisdiction of the cora of Cabra. Later it was absorbed into the Zirid kingdom of Granada.

Fernando III of Castile took the town in 1240, granting it as a lordship to a Portuguese nobleman of Toledan family, Gonzalo Yáñez d'Ovinhal. The name Aguilar came from the family name of Gonzalo's mother, bestowed by Alfonso X in recognition of services rendered. The suffix "de la Frontera" reflects the town's position close to the Granadan frontier through the later Middle Ages.

At the start of Pedro I's reign, the lord Alfonso Fernández Coronel rebelled against the king. When the revolt was crushed, Pedro I renamed the town Monterreal and changed its eagle coat of arms to the image of a king with a drawn sword. After the Castilian civil wars between Pedro I and Enrique II, the town passed to Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba.

The 17th and 18th centuries brought population decline through epidemic disease. In 1912 the hamlet of Zapateros split off to become the separate municipality of Moriles. The Spanish Civil War left deep wounds here.

From July 1936, forces of the military uprising carried out violent repression, leaving mass graves, some still unexcavated, with death toll estimates ranging from 64 recorded in civil registers to over 200 according to other sources. The last Republican mayor, José María León Jiménez, was among those killed. A local school served as a Republican prisoner concentration camp between at least June 1938 and June 1939.

Five Aguilar exiles died in Nazi concentration camps in Germany.

Aguilar's historic centre has been a protected Conjunto Histórico Artístico since 1974, and churches from the 16th and 17th centuries are scattered across the old town. The most distinctive monument is the Plaza de San José, notable for its unusual polygonal ground plan.

The ruins of the old castle, originally the stronghold of the Andalusian rebel leader Omar ben Hafsún, stand as a reminder of the town's medieval past. It later came into the hands of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Rojas, great-great-grandfather of El Gran Capitán. The castle towers run along the ridge of the hill, with the white-walled town spread out below them. The best panoramic view of this arrangement is from the cemetery on a nearby hill.

Built in 1530 to a design by Hernán Ruiz in Gothic-Mudéjar style, the Church of Nuestra Señora del Soterraño is the oldest church in Aguilar. It was raised over a cave where, according to tradition, an image of the Virgin of unknown origin was found, and it sits on the site of an earlier church called Santa María de la Mota, constructed against the outer walls of the castle on a stepped platform. Inside, the baroque chapel of the sagrarium is particularly notable, as are its doors, which are carved from tortoiseshell and agate, and the chapel of Jesús Nazareno.

The Convent of Las Descalzas, completed in 1683, is considered one of the most significant baroque buildings in the Córdoba region. It has a Latin-cross plan, a dome over the crossing, and elaborate painted and plasterwork decoration throughout its interior.

The Church of El Carmen dates from 1590 and was originally a Carmelite convent church, later remodelled. It holds a notable Ecce Homo in the style of Alonso de Mena from the early 17th century, along with several wooden sculptures.

The Church of Santa Brígida, on the street of the same name, served as a maternity hospital between the 1950s and 1970s. It has two baroque doorways flanking a neoclassical central tower, and has been restored. A short distance from the town centre, the Ermita del Señor de la Salud was built in 1611, possibly in response to a late-16th-century epidemic. It has a stone doorway with a semicircular arch and columns.

Near the town, a Roman water mine feeds the Fuente del Aceituno, a spring about 800 metres away on the road to Montalbán, which still supplies fresh water today.