Marchena

Marchena is a town in the province of Seville, Spain. Its Moorish name was Marshēnah (مَرْشَانَة) which means "of the olive trees". The city covers 379 square kilometers and has a population estimated at 19,940 as of 2014. Marchena is known as "the unknown beauty."The city is located at an altitude of 150 meters, and is 64 kilometers from the provincial capital, Seville, in the region called La Campiña. It is known for its Holy Week celebration and its monumental complex (declared a Historic-Artistic Site), where the church of San Juan Bautista and the Arch of the Rose (Puerta de Sevilla) stand out. The municipality is also known for its connection with flamenco, and for being the birth place of well-known artists such as Pepe Marchena and guitarist Melchor de Marchena.HistoryHumans have been present in the Marchena area since prehistory. An old civilization called Tartessos existed in the Marchena area, which was located mostly near Montemolín. There are also remains of Roman villagers in this area. Local historians also maintain that a Roman colony called Martia existed in the area, though no evidence of this has been found.In Roman times the area was sparsely populated. There are testimonies of settlers in the Visigothic period, but it is not until the Islamic dominion when the city conformed with the structure that at the moment can be distinguished. It was denominated by the Muslims like Marsen'ah due to the great amount of olive trees that surrounded the population, reached a great urban development and was walled (centuries XI-XII).It passed into Christian hands in the middle of the thirteenth century, during the reign of Ferdinand III of Castile, becoming a town of Realengo, until during the reign of Ferdinand IV of Castile. In 1309 it was granted to Fernando Ponce de Leon, great-grandson Of king Alfonso IX of León. It had previously belonged to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, known for being the defender of the city of Tarifa. For several centuries the lordship of Marchena was in the hands of the family Ponce de León.