Sunday, May 02, 2010

A beacon for the area

image Speaking of crosses, the one you can see on the top of La Muela in Orihuela is a fascinating structure which can be seen from miles away during the daytime.

Now though you will also see it at night as in this photograph from Información.

A bit of history

A wooden cross was first erected on the site in 1411 and was replaced several times. The first iron cross was placed there on the 5th May 1910. That was removed during the civil war to be replaced by another wooden one. The present cross, which is fifteen metres high and eight metres across, was erected in May 1942.

To celebrate its 100th Anniversary, the cross has been illuminated with candles. Those have now be replaced with 100 metres of LED lights which were placed there by the local police association of "Virgen de Monserrate". In the past, they would have used mules to take the lights up to the cross; this time they made four trips with a helicopter to assemble the lights.

Members of the Association will guard the cross to prevent vandalism and then next Monday they will carry the cable back down the mountain on foot.

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