In the Plaza de las Flores we find one of the most representative buildings of the history of Estepona: the Casa de las Tejerinas. The exact date of construction of the building is unknown, but it is usually framed between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is clear that it belonged to Carmen and Francisca Tejerina Martín and that is the origin of the name by which this architectural jewel is known. Its rectangular structure includes an arcaded central courtyard and a lookout tower overlooking the Plaza de las Flores. Today, it houses the Tourist Office and an exhibition hall.
If you want to know more about La Plaza de las Flores, click on the button below.
Who were the Tejerinas?
Not much is known about Carmen and Francisca Tejerina Martín, the “Tejerinas” sisters. In the Estepona archive we found neither documents nor data concerning his life. The little that is known comes from oral tradition and curiously (as described by Paco Medina) by some stories of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester of his time in Estepona that are collected in his books “Cuadernos de la Romana” and “Nuevos Cuadernos de la Romana”.
Francisca Tejerina Martín
Carmen Tejerina Martín
Photographic archives of Mr. Juan Andrés Gaitán Arroyo
Excerpt from Francisco Medina's blog
Carmen and Paca were wealthy people, with an estate that provided them with a good income. Lovers of “healthy amusements”, they collaborated in the organization of big parties and bullfights and were assiduous to the meetings that, for any reason, were celebrated in the Quiñones Drugstore.
It is documented that both sisters died unmarried and without descendants before the Civil War. Francisca (Paca) donated in inheritance the Casa de las Tejerinas to the Hospital de la Caridad and that was its purpose until 1980 when the Estepona Town Hall took it over, renovating its facilities and converting it into the Casa de Cultura. Later, in 2005, in search of a larger space, the Casa de la Cultura moved to the Padre Manuel Cultural Center.
From 2005 to 2016, the Casa de las Tejerinas was the headquarters of the Garó Art Gallery. And since then until today it has become the MAD Estepona, the Museum of Art of the Diputación de Málaga. In addition, as mentioned above, just at the entrance and on the left hand side is located the Tourist Office of the municipality.
So much for our small contribution to make Estepona and the people of Estepona a little better known. However, if you want to delve into this and many other stories of our land we invite you to discover one of those magnificent works of historical research, so thorough and well documented that are: the blog of Francisco Medina.
