History
P uente Genil would not be understood without the river that gives it its name and which, since ancient times, has had a clear influence on the whole territory. The Local Historical Museum houses findings dating back to the Lower Palaeolithic. Different archaeological sites are scattered throughout the municipality, such as Roman Villa of Fuente Álamo, which dates from the first to the tenth century AD.
In the Local Museum we can also contemplate other materials and objects that go from the Prehistory to the Middle Ages, standing out the Romans from Fuente Álamo, the Hispano-Visigoths from the necropolis of Los Castellares and the Arabs from Castillo Anzur, an Arab watchtower from the 10th century that dominates the city and its surroundings and from which on clear days you can see Sierra Nevada.
Puente Genil
Since the time of the Reconquest – the first foundation of the town dates from the 13th century and is related to the conquest of Cordoba by the troops of King Ferdinand III, the Saint – this town of people open to the banks of the Genil, from which it receives its name.
Today the existence of “La Puente” in the late Middle Ages seems undoubted, it is more difficult to determine, to the point that there is no consensus on it, the approximate date of its foundation, especially when archeology has not yet shed light on it and the Historical documents in possession of the Villa do not go beyond the beginning of the 16th century.
In any case, the founding of the town of Puente Genil is linked to the reconquest process carried out by Fernando III el Santo, which culminated in the incorporation of these lands to the crown of Castile in 1240
During the great epidemic of the year 1650, there was a great death that considerably reduced the population. As a result of her, the people directed their prayers to the Immaculate Conception and named her Patroness of the Villa.
In 1865 the Puente Genil railway station was inaugurated, a railway line that would cover the Córdoba-Málaga route. This marked the beginning of commercialization and industrialization, key to the subsequent development of Puente Genil.
Such expansion will culminate in the last third of the 19th century with a period of cultural, economic and social flowering of the population that will make it the most important in the province. Proof of this are the multitude of traces that the industrial heritage has left in the urban fabric of the city.
