Librilla is a Spanish

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

Murcia region The Region of Murcia (, ; ; ) is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean coast. The region is in area and had a population of 1,511,251 as at the start of 2020. About a ...

. It had a population of 4614 in 2010 and an area of 56 km². It's placed in both sides of the Orón river.

Geography

Librilla is located next to the Algecira's

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

and it's crossed by the

Oron Oron may refer to: "Light" or someone that is "being able" or "capable" of doing anything posible or impossible. *Oron people a multi ethnic group of people living In the lower Cross River basin. *Oron Nation, one of the major states in the old Ca ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

. It's situated in the shadow of Sierra de Carrascoy and the slopes of

El Castellar El Castellar is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census ( INE), the municipality had a population of 81 inhabitants. See also * List of municipalities in Teruel This is a list of the municipa ...

, bordering the municipalities of

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

to the north and east, north by

Mula Mula may refer to: Places * Mula Township, Sichuan, China * Mula, Ethiopia, a district * Mula, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Mule, Norway (also spelled Mula), a village * Muľa, a village and municipality in southern Slovakia * Mul ...

and

Alhama de Murcia Alhama de Murcia is a Spanish municipality in the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. It is located in the north of the southern half of the region. The municipality shares borders with Librilla in its north, Murcia in its northeast, F ...

to the south and west.

History

Librilla's history dates back from

Iberians The Iberians (, from , ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (among others, by Hecataeus of Mil ...

time, which left the remains of a settlement in

. The name of this town gave it the Arab geographer Al-Idrissi, in the 12th century, called "Lymbraya", which in Arabic means "Ghost's stream" (Barranco de los Espectros). In 1243, after Muslim rule Librilla along with the rest of the Kingdom of Murcia is delivered as a protectorate of the future

Alfonso X Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germany on 1 Ap ...

of Castile, then infant, through the surrender of Alcaraz. In times of

Alfonso XI Alfonso XI (11 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...

, Juan Manuel, governor of the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of Castile in the

Kingdom of Murcia After roughly two decades as a protectorate of the Crown of Castile, the territory of the Taifa of Murcia became the Kingdom of Murcia (, a territorial jurisdiction of the Crown of Castile) in the wake of its Conquest of Murcia (1265–66), conq ...

, Librilla inherited as part of the estates belonging to his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

Demographics

Main sights

The most notable places in Librilla include: * San Bartolome's Church; * The Town Hall; * Castle's ruins; * Sagrado Corazon's Park, always know how "El Monumento"; * " Escalera de los Moros"; * " Caseron Marques de Camachos"; * "

Las Posadas ''Las Posadas'' is a Novena, ''novenario'' (an extended devotional prayer). It is celebrated chiefly in Latin America, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and by Latin Americans in the United States. It is typically celebrated each year bet ...

"; * Rosalía's Manor ( Casa Méndez); * Centenary elm in El Lavdor;

Economy

The main economic activity is

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Librilla with irrigated

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s, especially the production of

lemons The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

. Librilla industrial production is very recent, from the construction of industrial estate "Cabecicos Blancos", situated along the Mediterranean motorway, 20 km from

. The polygon has an area of 750,000 m2 of industrial land and 512,000 m2 of building land and has good access.

Gastronomy

The main dishes of local

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and Dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, ...

are rice with rabbit, stew, crumbs, michirones (dried beans cooked with

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...

and

sausages A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with Edible salt, salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or ex ...

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

with

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

and the pot of cooked pork. One type of traditional

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

called pitanza, which weighs 200 grams and is released thousands from the

balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

every 22 August. This is a unique event both regionally and nationally originated in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times.

Holidays

* May 2–3: "Festividad de la Santa Cruz". *July 16: Carmen's Virgin. * August 2: Our Lady of Angels. * August 18–24: "Fiestas patronales en honor a San Bartolomé". * September 8:

Pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

to the shrine of Our Lady of Bethlehem that begins, in alternate years, in Librilla or in Sangonera la Seca.

Celebrities born in Librilla

* Antonio Soto Alcón (1952-),

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, he received the «European painter 2005» award from

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Sister cities

Saint-Jean-de-Védas Saint-Jean-de-Védas (; Languedocien: ''Sant Joan de Vedats'') is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Geography Located southwest of Montpellier, the commune is composed of a series of increasin ...

(

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

)

References

Municipalities in the Region of Murcia {{Murcia-geo-stub