Galera, Granada

Galera
municipality
Seal
Location of Galera in the province of Granada
Coordinates: 37°44′35″N 2°33′05″W / 37.74306°N 2.55139°WCoordinates: 37°44′35″N 2°33′05″W / 37.74306°N 2.55139°W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Andalusia
Province	Granada
Comarca	Huéscar
Legal district (partido judicial)	Huéscar
Government
• alcalde (mayor)	Manuel Serral Rodríguez (2007) (PSOE)
Area
• Total	117 km^2 (45 sq mi)
Elevation	843 m (2,766 ft)
Population (2009)[1]
• Total	1,106
Demonym(s)	galerino (m.), galerina (f.)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal Code	18840
Area code(s)	(+34) 958
Province code	18
Municipality code	082
Distance from Granada	150 km
Website	www.altipla.com/galera/

Galera is a municipality in the comarca of Huéscar, province of Granada, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, roughly 150 kilometres (93 mi) from the provincial capital, Granada.^[2]

Demographics

The population of the municipality is distributed among the districts in the following manner (2008):

Population by district (2008)

District	Inhabitants.
Buenavista	15
Cortijos del Cura	35
Galera	979
La Alquería	105

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1999 1,360 —     2000 1,309 −3.75% 2001 1,281 −2.14% 2002 1,243 −2.97%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2003 1,197 −3.70% 2004 1,152 −3.76% 2005 1,127 −2.17% 2006 1,119 −0.71%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2007 1,135 +1.43% 2008 1,134 −0.09% 2009 1,106 −2.47%
Source: [1]

The "Goddess" of Galera. National Archaeological Museum of Spain.

History

Two significant archeological excavations have taken place in the vicinity of Galera. One has uncovered the Bronze Age Argaric culture, at "El Castellón Alto" or "Castellón de Arriba",^[3] where archeologists have excavated many tombs in several artificial terraces on a hill of vertical walls.

The other excavation involves the Iberian Necropolis of Tútugi (in the Cerro del Real) which has several types of tombs.^[4] The most numerous of those types consists of a rectangular chamber, covered by a circular tumulus and reached through a long passage. Various objects have been found in these tombs, such as ornaments, Phoenician, Ancient Greek and Iberian vases, weapons, and such funerary goods as alabaster clay figures. These have been dated between the 6th and 3rd centuries BCE.

The "Lady of Galera" or "Goddess of Galera" (see image at left) was found in the 5th century BCE tomb number 20, zone 1 of the Necropolis.^[5] It is a Phoenician figurine from the 7th century BCE^[5] (similar to another found in Carthage, North Africa), made of alabaster, and probably represents the goddess Astarte.^[5] The "lady" or "goddess" is seated between two sphinxes and has an opening through which liquid can be poured into it, which will emerge from small holes corresponding to the nipples of the breasts.^[5] The robust forms of the figure suggest Mesopotamian influences; the stylization of the clothing and hair suggest Egyptian influences. It is believed that this sacred object was passed down for many generations before being used as part of a burial.

The city maintained its importance in the Roman era as "TVTVGI", but fell somewhat in population during the Visigothic period and the era of Muslim-ruled Al-Andalus.

In 1230 by Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, archbishop of Toledo, conquered Galera; it was recovered in 1319 by Ismail I of Granada, and conquered definitively by Castile in 1488, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand.^[6] The people of Galera participated in the Morisco Revolt of 1568. In Galera, the revolt was personally suppressed by Don John of Austria, who made a house-by-house assault of the city and salted the fields to make it impossible to grow crops.^[7] All the 2500 inhabitants were slaughtered in what is known as the Galera Massacre^[8] In the 16th century, Galera was repopulated by families coming principally from Valencia, Murcia, and La Mancha.^[6][9]

Notes

1. Nomenclátor. Relación de unidades poblacionales - Galera, INE. Accessed online 2010-02-03.
2. Situación, official site of the Ayuntamiento de Galera. Accessed online 2010-02-03.
3. El Castellón Alto 1, official site of the Ayuntamiento de Galera. Accessed online 2010-02-03.
4. Necrópolis ibérica de Tútugi, official site of the Ayuntamiento de Galera. Accessed online 2010-02-03.
5. La diosa de Galera, official site of the Ayuntamiento de Galera. Access date 2010-02-03.
6. Galera, Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada. Fecha de acceso 2010-02-05.
7. José Muñoz y Gaviria Fabraquer, , Estab. tip. de Mellado, 1861. p. 143–144. Digital version at archive.org. Access date 2010-02-05.
8. Spain 1474-1700: the triumphs and tribulations of Empire, Colin Pendrill, page 77, 2002
9. F. Gutiérrez, Fuego para recibir la Navidad, diariosur.es. Access date 2010-02-05.

External links

• (Spanish) Ayuntamiento de Galera, official page