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Berja lies astride both the Sierras de Gádor and de la Contraviesa, and has been occupied by man since prehistoric times. Berja´s most important buildings lie in and around the Plaza de la Constitucion. Amongst the finest are:
The Parish Church de la Anunciación, which dates back to the 16th century, although it was destroyed in 1568 and remained in ruins until 1763. It was then rebuilt to an inferior design by Juan José Fernandez Bravo, including a cupola, various retables, and a pulpit and tabernacle designed by Ventura Rodriguez, but all these disappeared in the 1804 earthquake. The current building, with three naves in the neoclassical style, was designed in 1840 by the Grenadian architect José Contreras, but it has since undergone various additions.
The Ayuntamiento is a neoclassical structure, rebuilt in 1840 to replace the original erected in 1787 by the architect and academic Francisco Antonio Quintillian y Lois, which was also destroyed in 1804. Its ten arches, distributed over two stories, lie between enormous pilasters, all surmounted by a pediment flanked by turrets.
The Torre de la Encisos, probably dates from the 16th century although the coat-of-arms which adorns it was made 1n 1699. It now houses the Tourest Information Office.
The Plaza Porticada ((Arcaded Plaza), erected between 1858 and 1860, when Berja was expanding enormously, was built to house the market which until then had taken place in the Plaza de la Constitución.
Its worth taking a stroll (which is sign-posted) around its 30 fountains, these are just some of them: Fuente del Oro, Fuente del Almez, Fuente de la Higuera, Fuente de la Placeta de la Saliva, Fuente del Marqués, Fuente de Don Emilio, Fuente los 16 Caños, and Fuente de Toro.
These many springs also supplied the power to a string of flour mills, one, the Molino del Perrillo, which has three millstones, still stands in the Calle del Agua. The building itself dates from 1863.
Outside the town you can see, amongst others, the Fuentes de Marbella, which has a recreation area, and the Fuente de Alcaudique, which is still of some great importance to the local agriculture.
Another of Berja´s structures, the Pantano de Beninar, (Beninar Dam), is one of the largest in the Province; it takes its name from the village which is now submerged in the lake.