Colmenar is a municipality in the province of
Málaga, in
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...
, southern
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
.
Colmenar has been populated since the
Neolithic age
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
, as testified by the remains found at the Cueva de las Pulseras. After the
Reconquest, the town was named after a nearby farm known as Colmenar (Spanish: "apiary") for its great number of beehives. The history of the village began in 1487, but it is not before 1777 that it became independent as a township.
Colmenar houses the region's medical center.
Main sights
On top of the hill, overlooking the village and its surrounding valleys, is the hermitage of La Santísima
Virgen de la Candelaria
The Virgin of Candelaria or Our Lady of Candle ( es, Virgen de Candelaria or ''Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria''), popularly called ''La Morenita'', celebrates the Virgin Mary on the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands (Spain). The cen ...
. It was built in the 17th century and is nowadays declared a historical local monument. The hermitage is consecrated to the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of Colmenar.
References
Municipalities in the Province of Málaga
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