Our heritage
of our past and a part of our present.
The stones here speak, because they are a part
of our past and a part of our present.
Murla
Església fortificada de Sant Miquel Arcàngel
The fortified church of Murla is the most prominent monument in the municipality. Its defensive function was intensified in the 16th century due to attacks by the pirates of Barba-Roja. However, its history begins much earlier as it used to be an ancient castle at the time of the Islamic domination. During the last Muslim period, it belonged to Al-Azraq, who gave it to Jaume I in the mid-13th century.
At the foot of the church's tower stands the ancient washhouse, which is still in use. The bell tower from 1866, designed by architect Martín de Martín and built on top of a tower of the old castle, which served as the parish church since the 16th century, completely collapsed due to deficiencies in the joint between the two structures on the 1st of May, 1990, resulting in the death of two residents and the destruction of several houses.
The castle tower, on which the bell tower was situated, has been restored, which caused its volume to be regained, much like the remaining tower at the other end of the church (1995). Initially, a separate bell tower project was proposed by the Provincial Council, which was a simple inaccessible bell-gable, but it did not progress in any way.
Later, as a local initiative, a second project was commissioned that reproduced the external appearance and volumetrics of the collapsed bell tower, albeit located in the orchard of the abbey house. The project was not authorised by La Generalitat (the regional government), both due to its mimetic nature and its proximity to the Cultural Interest Property (BIC) of the ancient castle, now a parish church.
An ideas competition initiated by various institutions resulted in an irregular hexagonal bell tower design, with a new and detached structure, which began to be built in 2010.
The temple was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest on the 14th of August, 2001, as it is the former Castle of Murla. Consequently, any interventions involving the bells must be explicitly authorised by the so-called Direcció General de Cultura (the Directorate General of Culture), submitting the project prior to the start of the work. (1)
(1) Lozano, T. (2021). L'Església de Murla: Ubicació i característiques. LaMarinaAlta.com [in Valencian] https://lamarinaalta.com/iglesia-murla/
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Murla
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