Torredonjimeno
Torredonjimeno is located in the western area of , to the west of that city to 17 kilometres.
At north Torredonjimeno borders on , , Villardompardo and , at south on , and , at East on and at west on .
The current name of comes from the time of Fernando III el Santo’s reconquest. Nevertheless, we have signs of a previous town to the dates of the reconquered venture of Castilla. Many investigators (like the case of P. Fray Alejandro del Barco, XVIII century) thought to find in the actual Torredonjimeno the location of a Roman town that together with Martos formed the Colonia Gemela Augusta Tuccitana. It seems to be that in the time of the Gothic Torredonjimeno was known with the name of Ossaria, and in this town connected to Martos where San Eulogio locates the stay of the martyr Santa Flora, who escaped from her homeland taking refuge from the religious persecution that the Moslems exerted over the mozarabic town.
From ancient times the town of Torredonjimeno has been known with the name of Tosiria, and this second familiar name is still used to refer the jiennense town, being its respective gentilicio (term referring to the natives or inhabitants of a particular place): tosiriano.
In the surrounding area of the town was carried out a battle between the Christian troops, commanded by the Archbishop of Toledo, Don Sancho, and the Moslems. The Christian contingent came from the nearby town of Torredelcampo, when it was assaulted in an ambush on the way to Torredonjimeno. We can still observe among the locals the name of those landscapes such as La Celada, and in a near fountain is carried the Archbishop of Toledo, who captured by the enemies was atrociously dead at the hands of a fanatic Moslem who did not want the dam was reason for the dispute to the Moslems who were allied in that military expedition.
In the XIII, Fernando III el Santo conquers the Kingdom of Jaén and it is then when Torredonjimeno, that in those days it was a solid Islamic fortress is conquered in battle by a knight nobleman from Aragón: Don Ximeno de Raya, who would give the name to the town. Like frontier land, Torredonjimeno suffered the attacks of the Muslims, especially in 1.471, being Diego Fernández de Martos prison governor of its fortress, descendant of one of the conquerors of Córdoba, who lost his two daughters. One of them died martyred in Granada, accompanied by another neighbour of Torredonjimeno, because she refused to embrace the Islamic faith, we do not know the whereabouts of the another prison governor’s daughter, although it is supposed she would accepted the conversion to the Islam. The Spanish Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand V and Isabella rewarded the bravery and nobility of this captain.
Don Diego López Pacheco, one of the Spanish Catholic Monarchs’ great men also fought in the nearby lands to the torisiana fortress, and with a gesture of gratitude he will be the most important patron of the current sanctuary of La Patrona de la ciudad, Nuestra Señora de Consolación, that apparently protected the Castilian captain in the battle with the Muslims.
From the total pacification of the peninsula, in Torredonjimeno started a period of prosperity, similar to the increase of its population. The town increased in inhabitants, and for which reason, before 1.529 it will undertake the construction works of the second torisiana parish church, dedicated to Inmaculada Concepción de Santa María that was added to the Parroquia Mayor de San Pedro Apóstol, older and head of the Arciprestazgo de Torredonjimeno.
Monuments
Town Hall, XVII century. Renaissance style.
Church of Santa María, XVI century. A gothic construction with Roman elements.
Church of San Pedro. With Mudejar coffered ceiling.
Convent of Nuestra Señora de la Piedad
Churches of Las Dominicas, from1543. it has Gothic and Renaissance elements.
Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación. Renaissance style. It was built in the time of the Catholic Monarchs.
Hermitage of Los Santos Cosme y Damián. Patron saint of the town.
Archaeological Sites
Castle, XIII century. It was built over an old Roman fortress. There are kept the walls, façade and large fortified towers.
Town Planning
Streets with squares and small squares. Houses decorated with rejería (ironed doors, windows…) and long balconies.
Gastronomy
Ensaladilla de Pimientos Rojos (Red Peppers Russian salad).
Migas de Pan (stale bread with milk, garlic, olive oil…).
Encebollado de bacalao (stew of salted cod, onion, ñoras (a kind of pepper), black olives, vinegar and potatoes).
Asadura con cebolla.
Arroz campero (rice with chorizo, onion, parsley, egg, salt, potato, tomato, saffron…).
Hornazo con huevo (Spanish meat pie made with flour and yeast and stuffed with pork loin, spicy chorizo sausage and hard-boiled eggs).
Gachas (bakes flour with water and salt, pork, tomato, etc ).
How to get there
You have to exit Jaén and continue in Carretera de Córdoba, and then take the Motorway A-316. Take the exit towards: Salida 73 - Torredonjimeno - Jamilena. Then you get Torredonjimeno.
Distances
To Jaén 18 km
To Martos 7 km
To Lendínez 16 km
To Jamilena 6 km
To Villardompardo 11 km
To Pilar de Moya 9,5 km
To Puente del Villar 7 km
To Torrefuencubierta 9,5 km
To Torre del Campo 7 km |
