Between the 1950s and 1980s, Spain experienced a significant period of reservoir construction for water supply and power generation.<\/p>\n
Between 1950 and 1980, 581 dams were built<\/strong>, which greatly mitigated the effects of droughts in many parts of Spain. The price to pay was the flooding of many towns and villages, which were submerged by the waters of these reservoirs. One of them was Pe\u00f1arrubia (M\u00e1laga)<\/strong>, a town of medieval origin<\/a> built in the 16th century on the former site of a Muslim castle. Dependent for many years on the municipality of Teba, it eventually separated and obtained its own municipal boundaries in 1832.<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1970, Pe\u00f1arrubia had 1,832 inhabitants. In 1971, they were evacuated due to the construction of the Guadalteba Dam<\/strong>, which began to impound water in October of that year. In 1972, the last inhabitants of Pe\u00f1arrubia left their village forever. In 1973, the municipality of Pe\u00f1arrubia was dissolved and became part of Campillos. The houses were demolished to prevent any residents from resisting the evacuation<\/strong>, and only the old school and the Civil Guard barracks were left standing, for use by the Southern Hydrographic Confederation, as well as the Hermitage of Our Lady of the Rosary<\/strong>, which was left in ruins. The former residents of Pe\u00f1arrubia built a replica of this hermitage outside the flooded area. Its construction began in 2016<\/a> and it was inaugurated in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Along with this village, the old C\u00f3rdoba-M\u00e1laga railway line was flooded.<\/strong> This line passed through Gobantes, a neighborhood of Pe\u00f1arrubia where its railway station was located. With the village submerged, the old Bogantes and Valdeyeso tunnels<\/strong> (the first 363 meters long and the second 355 meters long) and the 40-meter bridge between them<\/strong>, which now disappears and spanned the Guadalhorce River, were abandoned.<\/p>\n Yesterday, the always interesting YouTube channel Aventuras Entresierras<\/a> (which I recommend you subscribe to) published an interesting video exploring this ancient submerged village<\/strong> and one of those abandoned railway tunnels (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):<\/p>\n
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