Cómpeta

What to See in Cómpeta

A tour of the centre of the town is indispensable. Here the traditional architecture proudly shows off one of its most charming aspects, which is the higgledy-piggledy way the houses are built. Some of them still have "semisótanos" (half-basements) where tools and other items are stored. While it is not advisable in any community of this type to take a car into the centre of town, in Cómpeta this is simply impossible because, in many of its streets, the different levels are connected by steps.

The town’s most notable building is the Nuestra Señora de la Asunción church, which was built in the sixteenth century and later restored. It consists of three naves separated by octagonal pillars. In its interior is the outstanding mural of the Asunción de la Virgen (Assumption of the Virgin), a 1972 work by the Vélez artist Francisco Hernández. The church’s exterior had to be rebuilt after the earthquake of 1884, but the most remarkable thing about this masonry structure is its four-level neo-Mudéjar tower (1935), whose uppermost level is in the form of a small chapel covered by a dome.

The San Antón and San Sebastián chapels, both from the eighteenth century, are faithful examples of the religious and traditional construction styles of their time. The simplicity of their outlines, notwithstanding the baroque style that it followed, and the lack of pretentiousness, emphasizes the religious character of the place, to the detriment of decorative exuberance.