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In addition, Galera has seven archaeological sites belonging to the Argaric culture. The archaeological site of the Cerro del Real, in which the Iberian-Roman city of Tútugi was discovered, its cemetery that dates from the VII to III centuries b.C, and the statue of the Astarté goddess known as the Goddess of Galera, stands out. The sites of Castellón Alto and Villares de la Arqueria, or the three watchtowers of Arab origin can be visited: Tarahal, Albarrani and Ozmín. Other places of great interest are the parochial church of the Announcement, of the XVI century, that is a historical artistic national monument, or the Metal bridge of the beginning of the XX century.
The origins of this town as human settlement go back to the Copper Age. Later the Iberian culture founded on this land the city of Tútugi and later it was occupied by Romans and Visigoths. At Muslim time it was a settlement of the great prominence being border land between the kingdoms of Granada and Murcia. The Muslims raised a defensive enclosure to which the Mozarabs named Gadera. At the Middle Age the place was already known as Galera, due to its peculiar orography similar to this boat. In 1230 it was conquered by the archbishop of Toledo Jiménez de Rada, years later it was recovered by the andalusíes and in 1319 it was re-conquered by Ismail I. It belonged to the Nasrid kingdom until Neque in 1488 it was conquered by the Catholic Kings, who gave it as estate to Enrique Enríquez. In 1570, during the Moorish revolt, it was an important resistance centre against the Christian troops commanded by Juan of Austria. When the place was taken, all its inhabitants were executed, carrying out a cruel slaughter in which all the men older than 12 years old were executed. Since then the occupation of the villa was prohibited and at the end of the XVI century it was repopulated by old Christians from Levante and Castile.
The traditional recipes are the crab of the Galera river with sauce, the crespillos, gachas, oven baked segureño lamb, the andrajos or the cuscus. In addition, it has a great variety of products derived from the pig: Black pudding, garlic sausage, salchichón, sausages, butifarra, filling, etc. The excellent quality of Galera’s wines stands out as well: red, white, young and fruity, obtained from Gordal and Garnacha Tintorera grapes.
- Isolated towers: They are three isolated towers from which dangers and attacks could be noticed. The Tarahal or Amarga Tower, reinforced in the XVI century, has cylindrical form and is in ruins in its Southern half; the Teón or Albarrani Tower, of the XVI century, is of square plant and it was built with Roman materials; and finally, the Ozmín Tower, of the XIII century but reinforced in the XVI, it has rectangular shape and it was built with Galera stone.
- Cerro Real: In this hill the track of the cultures developed in the peninsular south in the last 4,000 years can be trace: ceramic fragments Argaric, Iberian, Roman, Greek, Arab, pieces of mosaics, mill stones, metallic rests of constructive structures, grain warehouses for the food storage, etc.
- Parroquial Church of La Anunciación: It was built in 1598 by the new Christian settlers over the rest of an old mosque. It is dedicated to the invocation of the Virgin of the Announcement. It has a Baroque chapel of the XVII century attached that housed the image of the Christ of the Expiration, patron of the town. Its main altarpiece, the decoration of its facade, with peaks and shells, and its tower in which a sun clock and the impact of a cannon bullet can be appreciated, stand out. The set of the parochial church of the Announcement was declared national monument.
- Archaeological museum of Galera: It was inaugurated in July of 2001 in the old convent of nuns of Cristo Rey. The Museum of Galera conserves and exposes objects that belong to all the periods of the historical development in this region. The oldest sites are around 4500 years old and the most modern belong to the medieval period. The materials exposed in it belonged to particular collections of people of the town that had been finding them. It houses vestiges of the Copper Age, the Argar culture, the Bronze Age and the successive Iberian, Roman, Visigoth and Muslim settlements.
- Necropolis of Tútugi: It is an Iberian-Roman cemetery located in the outskirts. It is one of the most important sites of the area and one of the main Iberian cemeteries of the country, since it has more than 130 graves.
In the grave number twenty of this cemetery the Goddess of Galera was discovered in 1916, and it is exposed in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid. It appeared next to a group of utensils formed by four twin vessels of different sizes, two glass bottles, an ática black varnish glass, and a bronze handle of jar. It dates from the VII b.C. century, although it was not until the last decades of the V a.C. century when it was deposited in this grave. This small alabaster sculpture represents Astarté, Phoenician goddess of the fertility. The divinity appears sitting next to two sphinxes and maintains a great earthen bowl in its lap. The bust is hollow, so that liquids could be spilled by the orifice opened in the upper end of the head, which they would flow later from the chest to the sink, in which it could be a ritual act.
- Archaeological site Castellón Alto: Archaeological site fitted in the culture of the Argar, which is developed towards the 1800 b.C. Three constructive phases and numerous graves with double burial have been documented. The argaric town is partially reconstructed and is the oldest archaeological site of Andalusia opened to the public.
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