Cieza is a town and municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, in the autonomous community

Autonomous communities of Spain

An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...

 of Murcia

Region of Murcia

The Region of Murcia is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the country, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast....

. It is the capital of the Vega Alta comarca

Comarcas of Spain

In Spain traditionally and historically, some autonomous communities are also divided into comarcas .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing comarca.*Galician , sing. comarca....

, an old form of provincial subdivision). Its current population is around 40,000. The Segura River

Segura

Segura is a medium-sized river in southeastern Spain.It starts at Santiago Pontones , passes Calasparra, Cieza, Murcia, Beniaján, Orihuela, Rojales and ends in the Mediterranean Sea near Guardamar del Segura in the province of Alicante...

 passes by the town.

Its economy is based on agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, mainly in the cultivation of peach

Peach

The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...

es and olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

s.

Main sights

Populated since the Paleolithic Age, the area of Cieza is home to archaeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 excavations in Almadenes, La Serreta, and Barranco de los Grajos.

There are also Iberian

Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...

 remains (found at Bolvaz), as well as Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

, Visigothic, and Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

ic deposits. The Arabs, who inhabited the area from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, and who knew the area as Medina Siyâsa, left behind a mountain fortress. At the dig site of Medina Siyâsa, many decorative architectural

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 elements have been found, such as engraved arch

Arch

An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...

s and portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

s, and polychrome

Polychrome

Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...

d ceramics

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

, glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

, metals, etc. All these discoveries are kept in the museum of Siyâsa.

The Ermita ("hermitage") de la Virgen del Buen Suceso is located in the area known as Collado de la Atalaya. The Plaza de España is located in the heart of the city. The modern market was built in 1929 by Julio Carrilero.

El Paseo ("The Avenue") contains pictorial work in glazed tile by José Lucas, who dedicated the different tiles to several men of letters

Spanish literature

Spanish literature generally refers to literature written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the state of Spain...

.

The main church is the eighteenth century Basílica de la Asunción. Inside, there are sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

s and retablos by Rafael Ximeno y Planes

Rafael Ximeno y Planes

Rafael Ximeno y Planes was a Spanish painter. Some of his work appears in the Basílica de la Asunción, in the town of Cieza....

, Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench

Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench

Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench was a Spanish painter, and one of the most prominent artists of Valencia from the end of the nineteenth century, working in the Impressionist style....

, González Moreno, etc.

The Iglesia de San Joaquín, dating from the seventeenth century, is a Franciscan monastery. The church-monastery of the Order of Poor Ladies

Order of Poor Ladies

The Poor Clares also known as the Order of Saint Clare, the Order of Poor Ladies, the Poor Clare Sisters, the Clarisse, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, and the Second Order of St. Francis, , comprise several orders of nuns in the Catholic Church...

 (Clarisas), from the eighteenth century.

Twin towns

Baler

Baler

A baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport and store...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 Cieza

Cieza, Cantabria

Cieza is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. According to the 2007 census, the city has a population of 664 inhabitants. Its capital is Villayuso de Cieza.-External links:* - Cantabria 102 Municipios...

, Spain