La Atalaya

The tower of La Atalaya was declared of Cultural Interest with the category of monument in 1985 and is one of the main symbols of the town, appearing its image on the coat of arms of Nijar. Its construction took place in the thirteenth century and since then stands guarding the town. According to the chronicles it seems that in the fourteenth century, at the time of Yusuf I, it was restored. Currently, in 2016 the old tower was rehabilitated and is nowadays shown in all its splendor. The tower stands on the site of an ancient castle and portions of the walls are visible around the tower, perhaps remains of the ramparts that were ordered to be built because Nijar was such a dangerous area and had to defend itself against the incursions of corsairs and Berbers. Built in masonry, it has a circular floor plan with the base wider than the top and with two windows, to which there was no access from the outside, but with a ladder placed inside and that was removed when the guards entered as a security measure. These towers were useful to be used as warning signal posts and to communicate with other towers distributed along the coast. From it we can observe an excellent panoramic view of the village, its region, as well as the Natural Park of Cabo de Gata-Níjar.