Coin Attractions

As for the local art, that is one of the most importantcultural elements of the town, such as sustaining and restoring decorativearches of medieval times.

Many ofthese local treasures are now legally protected, here are a few examples of themost important historical masterpieces: The church and convent of St. Mary of the Incarnation is located in the square,it is actually an ancient Muslimmosque which has been converted into a Catholic church, and was the first parish church in Coin.

The San Fernando Cemetery is located in El Ejido and wasopened on May 30 1888. It was built from a few basic drawings made by thearchitect Cirilo Perez Salinas. Heoriginated from Burgos, although had beenresident in the capital of Malagasince 1833,

The plans were eventually executed by the localmaster builders Francisco Moreno Flores and Miguel Salgado Vazquez, an expertagronomist. This cemetery, which remains in use today, replaced the originalcemetery, which was built in 1804 to address overcrowding in local temples andmonasteries, and to meet the hygienic standards that since 1787, forced peopleto bury their dead outside towns and villages in Spain.

During the civil war, Coin was the scene of a bloody battlethat took the lives of hundreds of people. During the Franco dictatorship manyof Coin’s people lived in exile in other Andalusiatowns.

Decades later, Coin was transformed, the people whowere previously dependent on agriculture and industry in this small town wereincreasingly turning to the construction sector and tourism services to earntheir livings

The main church wasrestored in the last decade of the twentieth century. The nuns who once livedin the convent have now moved to a new facility, and the church halls are usedfor community purposes, especially those of cultural significance.

Since 2008 this historical monument has been recognised as being of culturalinterest and has now been included in Andalusia’sgeneral catalogue of historical heritage. The church of San Andre and the charity hospital arepart of the same buildings. They were built in the ‘plaza de San Andre’, but in1520 they moved to their current location

The complexitself is an unusual L-shaped construction, and is the result of a furtherexpansion to the four buildings that already existed. This is a common way ofbuilding in Andalusia and many buildings ofthis kind can be found there. The San Andre site was built in the second halfof the eighteenth century. It is currently under restoration.

The church of St. John the Baptist is located on thelower plaza. Originally constructed in 1489 on the site of an old Muslimcastle, although it was not officially awarded recognition as a canonicallyestablished parish until 1505. Although already in use, the building was notfully completed until the middle of the sixteenth century.

The shrine of Our Lady of Fuensanta is located in one of the fields of Pereila.The building which houses it was erected on top of a cliff. The original chapeldates its existence from 1529, although the building which stands there todaywas built in 1680. This building underwent several reforms during theeighteenth century.

The mostsignificant ceramics workshop during the last century was the Ridge Workshop.It is still working today, especially on this traditional Coin pottery, withover three hundred year old techniques. All of the pottery is made by localartisans. The city has been used in the past for many film projects and televisionseries, but has more recently been converted into a tourist area, greatlyadvertised by its appearance on our screens. Coin itself featured in theBritish series Eldorado, aired on the BBC in the early 1990’s.

Tourism, construction, and hospitality have replaced the old industries, thoughthere are still many potters and several quarries where marble, dolomite, andsand for construction, are extracted.

The legend of thevirgin Fuensanta says that she (the virgin) was found by a shepherd who waswith his flock of sheep in the field. He came across a cave, and inside hefound a very pretty doll, he decided to take her to give his daughter as agift. When he went to pick the doll up, she disappeared, he searched andsearched but he could not find her so he gave up believing that he wasimagining things

Coin isprivileged in the location in which it stands. Located in the province of Malaga,Coin is situated near the beaches of the Costa del Sol, it is just a shortdistance from the provincial capital, and is very near the National Park.

The Vistillas Traditional Ceramics Museum is located in aprivileged enclave on the southern slope of the Valle del Guadalhorce. The viewacross the valley allows one to see from the Sierra de Ronda, all the way to Malaga.

The Museum showsthe history of Coin throughout the twentieth century, and offers opportunity,through its content, exhibitions, and traditional ceramics workshop, to the newgenerations who want to learn about, and discover their collective history.

The economy was traditionally reliant upon agriculture combined with the miningof marble, (which has existed since Roman times), and ceramics. During the lastcentury the ceramics trade was very important, and it was well known by itsunique colour known as ‘Green Coin’.

The nextday he returned to the same field to graze his flock and out of curiosity helooked in the cave where he had found the doll the day before, and there wasthe doll in the same place where he had first found her.

The shepherd thoughtthis was a miracle that a doll could hide, and then decided to make it known tothe priest from that day on, the doll was named the Virgin of Fuensanta, andmade the Coin patron because when she had been found, she had hidden, and notwanting to be moved from the place she loves.

The legend of the ‘Goat of the dead’ is a popular event, transferred fromgeneration to generation among the people of Coin. Antiguan legend has it that one summer night, before there were means oftransport such as cars and trains like we have now, a boy who lived in theIban, after a long working day on the farm, rode into Coin to visit hisgirlfriend, and buy goods from the market.

Passing the Benitez Cortijo Seco River, the boy heard afew groans, he began to sing away the fear, and his horse and he went faster,but after a few moments he heard a cry that sounded like the bleat of a goat.In fact it was a kid who it seemed had lost his herd.

The boy got off his horse, grabbed the animaland put him across the front of his horse. However, he was surprised to findthat the kid was growing up in a disproportionate manner, the legs of the goatgrowing longer and reaching to the ground. The boytried to pull the horse but it was impossible.

A mysterious force holds thekid’s feet down to the ground, pinning the horse beneath it. The boy tried itagain and again, but could not move it. Finally he gave a big push and the kidsuddenly disappeared. The boy did not think that what he had witnessed could possibly have occurred.Such was the indescribable fear that he felt.

When he arrived in Coin and toldhis relatives what had happened, he went to sleep that night and the poor boywoke up dead. Otherstories very similar to this have been told since, all slightly different butall essentially the same.