Cehegín

Agriculture & Business

The area has traditionally been an important source of marble, particularly red marble, which is exported as far afield as Japan and Argentina. Agriculture has also been important, with apricot and peach grown on irrigated soils, and olive, almond and vines grown on the drier land. Recent years have seen an increase in the cultivation of flowers under plastic poly-tunnels. Much of the local produce is pulped into fruit juices in canning facilities in the town. Local businesses include lawyers' offices, bakeries and construction.

History

The name Cehegín is sometimes connected by Spanish historians with that of the Zenaga, Senhaja or Senajeli, a North African tribe, which invaded Spain in the 11th century. The whole of this territory is layer upon layer of all the various cultures that established themselves here, the first settlers going back to 2400 BC. Reconquered by Alphonse VI with 1,000 horsemen and 11,000 infantrymen, Cehegín is one vast hilltop monument.

Cave paintings at Peña Rubia, a few kilometers outside the town, attest to the area being settled during pre-historic times. The town of Begastri, now abandoned, was settled during the later Bronze Age and was an important town during the time that the region was occupied by the Romans and the Visigoths. With the arrival of the Moors, the town center shifted to its present location at Cehegin. Remains of the Moorish city walls can still be seen, for example at the "Puerta de Caravaca." The Archaeological Museum can also be found in the Old Town, where the exhibition include also small fragment of Attic red-figured pottery dated to the 4th century BC.

Many conquistadores returned from South America with their riches and built large manorial houses in the Old Town. The Old Town has been revitalised recently by an influx of foreign (mainly British) buyers, who have renovated many of the older properties that were falling into disrepair.

Before it was given the name Cehegín, the town was called Bigastro (not to be confused with the district of Bigastro in the Valencian Community) and began to be an episcopal see when the bishop of Cartagena fled there after the Visigothic king Suintila (c. 588 – 633/635) destroyed that city. It remained a bishopric until Bigastro in its turn was destroyed by Arabs at the end of the 7th century. No longer a residential diocese, Bigastro is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.

The pilgrimage town of Caravaca de la Cruz is located about 5 minutes west of Cehegín. Access to the town from Murcia was much improved by the construction of the C415 motorway in the late 1990s.

Governing Cabinet

Members of the governing cabinet include