Segura de la Sierra

The mountains around Segura de la Sierra were known to Greek writers, who connected the area with the source of the Segura and Guadalquivir rivers. The site may correspond to ancient Amturgi or Ilorci, and later saw conflict between Romans and Carthaginians. The town's peak came under Arab rule.

In 781 the military leader Abul-Asvar took the town and built its fortifications, which sources describe as formidable. It was governed by walíes answering directly to the emirs of Córdoba, and the Arab name Shaqūra likely derived from an earlier Roman form, Secura. After internal conflict among the Almohads, Alfonso VIII granted the town to the Order of Santiago.

The poet Jorge Manrique is associated with the town, though his birthplace is disputed, documents exist for neither Segura nor the alternative claim of Paredes de Nava. In 1243 the territory passed to the Crown of Castile within the Kingdom of Murcia, remaining so until the province of Jaén was created in 1833. A visit by Carlos I in 1517 prompted the building of the Imperial Fountain.

The Napoleonic invasion later destroyed the town's archives entirely, taking much of its recorded history with them.

Segura de la Sierra was declared a protected historic-artistic ensemble in 1972, and the town still largely holds its medieval shape. The streets are steep and quiet, and the overall layout has changed little over the centuries.

The Mudéjar castle sits at the very top of the town, surrounded by the old walls, which still include several towers. Below it, the Imperial Fountain carries the coat of arms of Carlos V and stands beside the parish church of Nuestra Señora del Collado, which houses a *Descendimiento* attributed to the sculptor Gregorio Fernández and an alabaster figure of the Virgin of the Peña. The town hall has a Plateresque doorway and has been recently restored. The Arab Baths are modest in scale but have also been restored and are open to visitors.

In 2004 the thirteen municipalities of the Sierra de Segura region founded the Fundación Patrimonio Sierra de Segura, with its headquarters in Segura de la Sierra, followed in 2005 by the Centro de Estudios Sierra de Segura, both aimed at the study and promotion of the area's cultural and historical heritage.

Segura de la Sierra sits at about 1,140 metres inside the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y las Villas natural park, with a castle on the summit and the village falling away below it. Under Islamic rule, as Saqura, it was the stronghold of the whole mountain region, and the medieval layout has changed little since the village was protected in 1972.

Walls and towers still ring the upper town, and within them you find Arab baths, the Imperial Fountain bearing the arms of Charles V, and the church of Nuestra Señora del Collado with a Descent from the Cross attributed to Gregorio Fernández. It is also a base for serious walking: the long-distance GR-247 trail through the park's forests passes through the municipality.

Segura de la Sierra joined Los Pueblos Más Bonitos de España in 2018. The label is awarded by a private association, not the state: a village applies and is audited against around 40 criteria, from how its historic buildings are conserved to the upkeep of its streets, and members are reviewed and can lose it. Segura de la Sierra is one of 19 members in Andalucía, out of 126 in Spain. See all heritage towns in Andalucía.