Of great interest within the municipality is a large colony of Andalusian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) to be found within the natural reserve of the "Peñon de Zaframagón", a huge rock outcrop that is located 14 km to the northwest of the town centre.

Professor Ramos Santana posits that the legendary Cenosia, the original name of Olvera, located near the present city centre, was known as Vallehermoso (beautiful valley), existing at the time of the Visigoths.

The archaeologist Lorenzo Perdigones' report (1986) shows the existence of a Roman establishment in the area, dated the end of 3rd century B.C.

The original name of Olvera could be "Ilipa", (established by geographically adjusting in a map of Roman Spain, published in 1879, between Morón and Ronda).

But the first demonstrably reliable origin of Olvera is within Muslim documentation, in the mid 12th Century, when it is chronicled as an outpost in the mountains called "WUBIRA" or "URIWILA" (year 1327) when king Alfonso XI wrested it from the Arabs.

After the negotiations that followed the surrender of the town, Ibrahim-ibn-Utmain secured concessions, in respect of the Moors of Olvera, that each one of the inhabitants could keep their houses and goods.

The village was repopulated through a decree, a 'Letter of Population', issued on the 1 of August 1327, in which all criminals and debtors could, and had to, remain a year within the borders of Nazarí (Granada province?)

Olvera was host to a detachment of Napoleonic troops, who were constantly harassed by the activities of guerrillas from the town until the French retreated in 1812.

The years of the dictatorship of Franco provided opportunities for the Olvereños, who benefited from the building of the Jerez-Almargen railroad which terminated within the municipality.

Nowadays Olvera largely survives through family cooperatives, based on agriculture, tourism and the construction industry at the coast.

This church, in neoclassic style, was built by the orders of the Duke of Osuña in 1822 (which created a debt with the Olvera township by not investing the taxes in the improvement of the town) on the foundations of a small gothic- mudéjar (Andalucian Moorish) style church (conserving and incorporating a small baptismal room), which in turn was built on the foundations of an Arabic mosque.

At present the greater church of Olvera is again closed, due to a fire lasting 15 hours of an image/statue in September 2004, leaving the sacred place in lamentable condition.

Today it is a tourist office and a municipal museum, comprising four display rooms and a patio with a majestic view.

The reason for its name is the Christ statue, with arms raised, on the highest part of the rock carved by Jose Even Navas, in 1929.

For many years it was the seat of the old patrona of the city, the Holy virgin of Caño, an image kept by the local Franciscan friars who inhabited the interior.