Picacho de la Virgen de la Sierra

Picacho de la Virgen de la Sierra

An iconic landmark of the natural park, the Picacho de la Virgen in the Sierra de Cabra rises to an altitude of 1,216 metres and ranks ninth amongst the high...
Known as ‘El Cerro’ by the older residents of Zuheros and Luque, it overlooks a spectacular geographical, geological and scenic landscape that extends across six of the eight provinces of Andalusia (Córdoba, Seville, Málaga, Granada, Jaén and Cádiz) and its three major geological regions (Sierra Morena, the Guadalquivir Depression and the Baetic System). The views from its summit are so breathtaking that they captivated the attention of a group of distinguished geologists who, having gathered in Madrid in 1926 for the 14th International Geological Congress, travelled to Cabra on a field trip on 14 and 15 May, and were fascinated by the area’s geological significance. In 1927, it was declared a Site of Natural Interest. In the 1970s, the Royal Archconfraternity undertook the reforestation of this mountain, which until then had been a barren landscape of limestone due to deforestation and overgrazing. Furthermore, on 11 October 1985, the National Geographic Institute added this peak to the national catalogue of geodetic vertices under number 98949, a fact little known in the area because, in this case, the typical cylinder that crowns other peaks in the region was not erected. Thanks to its geomorphological interest, it is listed under number AND-220 in the Spanish Inventory of Places of Geological Interest and in the Andalusian Inventory of Georesources, as well as featuring on the list of notable geosites in the Sierras Subbéticas Geopark.