Urrea de Gaén
Encyclopedia
Urrea de Gaén is a municipality located in the province of Teruel
, community of Aragon
, Spain
. According to the 2004 census
(INE
), the municipality has a population of 568 inhabitants.
Located in the Lower Martin river area, in the Ebro basin, at the left bank of the Martin river, at 308 meters of elevation. It lies 160 km away from Teruel
, the province capital, and 75 km away from Zaragoza
, capital of the community.
sedentanos. Later there was the Roman occupation with a wide network of agricultural settlements (fundus) in the form of villas.
A long Muslim occupation and residence (from the eighth century to 1610) left its mark in the local architecture in the Moorish styling of the village. The area was occupied by the Aragonese
from the twelfth century, at the time of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronila, becoming part of the Aragon defensive system. After multiple marriages, lawsuits and swaps, in 1268 King James I created the Lordship of Híjar
for his natural son Pedro Fernandez de Hijar. Thereafter the town was always under the dominicatura of Híjar's house, until the abolition of the old regime, well into the nineteenth century.
Teruel (province)
Teruel is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. The capital is Teruel.It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia , Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Zaragoza....
, community of Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, 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...
. According to the 2004 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
(INE
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)
The National Institute of Statistics is the official organisation in Spain that collects statistics about demography, economy, and Spanish society. Every 10 years, this organisation conducts a national census. The last census took place in 2001....
), the municipality has a population of 568 inhabitants.
Located in the Lower Martin river area, in the Ebro basin, at the left bank of the Martin river, at 308 meters of elevation. It lies 160 km away from Teruel
Teruel
Teruel is a town in Aragon, eastern Spain, and the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 34,240 in 2006 making it one of the least populated provincial capitals in the country...
, the province capital, and 75 km away from Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
, capital of the community.
History
Urrea de Gaén has known human settlement at least since the Chalcolithic period (2100 BC), as evidenced by ruins and remains discovered in numerous excavations. It was inhabited by tribes of iberizedIberians
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...
sedentanos. Later there was the Roman occupation with a wide network of agricultural settlements (fundus) in the form of villas.
A long Muslim occupation and residence (from the eighth century to 1610) left its mark in the local architecture in the Moorish styling of the village. The area was occupied by the Aragonese
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
from the twelfth century, at the time of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronila, becoming part of the Aragon defensive system. After multiple marriages, lawsuits and swaps, in 1268 King James I created the Lordship of Híjar
Híjar
Híjar is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. , the municipality has a population of 1,900 inhabitants.The town is noted for the well-preserved, 15th century Synagogue, and for the Gothic-Mudejar church of Santa María la Mayor....
for his natural son Pedro Fernandez de Hijar. Thereafter the town was always under the dominicatura of Híjar's house, until the abolition of the old regime, well into the nineteenth century.
Monuments
The village in rich in architecture, history and art. Some of the more notable structures are:- Iglesia de San Pedro Martir from the eighteenth century. Built in the baroque-style neoclassic of stone and brick. By the architect Agustín Sanz in 1782. It had a Bayeu Ramon altarpiece, a painting of St. Augustine of Jose Castillo, and another painting by Francisco de Goya, "Apparitions of the Virgin to Santiago", all missing today. The main altarpiece is the work of painter Alejandro Cañada, and there is a reproduction of Goya's painting on the altar of the Virgen del Pilar.
- The Town Hall Facade of the same period, in civil baroque style, built with brick. The bottom four arches, two of them below street level give way to the old Moorish and Jewish quarter (La Muela) and the New District.