San Sebastian Minaret

Minaret in Ronda 

San Sebastian Minaret
CC BY-SA 3.0 / Gumerg

The San Sebastian Minaret is a Minaret from a mosque in Ronda, Spain.

The minaret was a two level structure with an open patio on the third level where the muezzin or Islamic priest, would call the faithful to prayer. It is possible that during the hot summer months a canopy or umbrella may have been erected, but certainly there is no evidence that the minaret ever had a built-in third level.

The ground floor was built from locally quarried stone slabs with the horse-shoe arch entrance leading to an office or storage room. higher levels are thought to have been built using brick to save money.

History of San Sebastian Minaret

During the  700 years Ronda was an Islamic city, it is thought to have had 7 or 8 mosques. The mosque wasn’t particularly large, but being the closest to the central mosque frequented by the city’s rulers and elite families, the mosque in Plaza Abul Beka probably served as the main mosque for merchants and middle ranking families of the city.

It was here in 1485 that Ferdinand II is believed to have ordered a mass to offer thanks for the capture of Ronda. The Minaret of San Sebastian which was converted into a bell tower after the adjacent mosque was reconsecrated a Christian church. The church was utterly destroyed in the 1600s during the Morisco uprisings that led to their expulsion to North Africa.

In 1931 the Minaret of San Sebastian was declared a national monument of historic importance.

The San Sebastian Minaret appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Ronda !

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Visiting San Sebastian Minaret

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Address: Minaret of San Sebastian Plaza Abul Beka, s/n 29400 Ronda Málaga Spain
Duration: 5 minutes

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