Archaeological Remains
An obligatory transition and settlement point for various villages over the centuries, this municipal territory offers prehistoric traces such as: cave paintings – the Pedregosa and Retín Mountain Ranges-, in addition to Megalithic evidence –the Dehesa de Aciscar Dolmens-, Phoenicians Remains- Las Palomas Island-, Roman Remains-Julia Traducta, in Tarifa itself and Mellaria and Baelo Claudia, in Bolonia-, a first class archaeological settlement.
Despite playing a essential role since the Muslims’ arrival to the Peninsula it would not be until the 10th Century and the erection of its walls that the settlement would acquire its definitive configuration.
In addition to the more generic two storey whitewashed residences, one can find more noble structures where the polychromatic nature of other materials such as brick, slate, tiles and ironwork enrich the traditional order.
Castillo de Guzmán El Bueno
The Castle, later named after Guzmán El Bueno was constructed under the orders of Abderramán III. It is a sample of 10th Century Medieval military architecture with a trapezoidal floor plan added to by subsequent extensions but conserving its wall, tower and door structures.
Iglesia de San Mateo
The Iglesia de San Mateo (Saint Matthew’s Church) substituted the original, Parroquial de Santa María as the Parish Church. It is a 16th Century Gothic style work although its main façade designed in the 18th Century by the architect Torcuato Cayón is in the Baroque style. Its offers three naves and a transept, highlighting the many features in its ample, bright interior such as the tabernacle and the series of carvings, engravings and canvases dating both from the era of its construction and the 18th Century.
Iglesia de San Francisco
The Iglesia de San Francisco (Saint Francis’s Church) was constructed in the 16th Century and still offers some late Gothic elements. It was later reconstructed in the 18th Century and exhibits the 15th Century image of the “Cristo del Desconsuelo”.
Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Luz
Eight kilometres away from the city centre one finds the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Luz (the Virgen of the Light Sanctuary) an ordered, white structure including a chapel, patio and other additions where one can honour a full sized, polychrome representation of its patron the Virgin of the Light dating from the late 17th Century.
