ABSTRACT
On the pinnacle of a dramatic escarpment in the mountains of Andalusia in southern Spain sits a building which has, over its 800 years standing, taken full advantage of that situation and aspect. It is a building from which one can look out for 360 degrees to north Africa, the border with Portugal and other mountain-top communities, and it is a landmark that can be seen at distance by others – friends and enemies. It was a mosque, converted into a church, back into a mosque and fortress again, and in 1505 became the Church of the Incarnation in the village of Casares. Casares was the birthplace of the twentieth-century political activist for Andalucian self-determination, Blas Infante Perez, and the church, de-sanctified after it became derelict following the Spanish Civil War, was converted into a cultural centre, named after the ‘father of Andalusian nationalism’. This chapter traces the changing uses of the building and its changing role in defining and describing place. Now that this area of Spain relies so heavily on tourism, does the building as an edifice which encapsulates the region’s history retain its cultural capital?
