Guess where the oldest church in La Alpujarra is? Órgiva, which is the capital of the Alpujarra Granadina? Wrong! It’s in a little place called Tímar. Unfortunately, it is in a ruinous state. In fact, it has been in a ruinous state for almost the last 500 years, because even in 1530 the locals where worried that it would fall in on them, according to historic records. The original building was built without foundations – not a wise move in an earthquake region, of course. Despite being pretty keen on falling down itself, it disappointedly survived the Morisco uprising of (1568-70), by which time when the Bishop popped by, there wasn’t even a priest to be seen.
By 1638 things hadn’t improved, strangely enough, so they got to work sorting out the front wall, which was on its way down the valley and by 1705 (no sense rushing) they had virtually rebuilt it from scratch. However by 1754 it had cracks in it again and by the beginning of the century is was in a ruinous state – *Sigh!*
Not ones to give up easily, in 1860 a survey was carried out and recognising that the foundations were shot and on their way to the beach, reparation work was carried out.
Fast forward and we come to the Spanish Civil War and the national sport of church burning. Obviously, the crazed communist militia considered it a waste of effort to burn it down, as it enjoys a propensity to self-destruct anyway, and settled on dragging out all the effigies and burning them.
Now, in this tiny hamlet of three old ladies and a dozen cats, the church is maintained through citizen donations. A point of contention is that the local priest, who technically is the owner of the building, has various properties around the municipality, donated by expiring little old ladies. The locals consider that if these properties were sold, then the church could be repaired. The priest is reportedly not keen on the idea, preferring to chance death through a vengeful falling roof. And with all these rains, his odds on surviving the coming weeks are not looking good.[mappress]