Almonacid de Zorita

Almonacid de Zorita municipality
Almonacid de Zorita - town center
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile-La Mancha
Province :	Guadalajara
Comarca :	La Alcarria
Coordinates	40 ° 20 ′  N , 2 ° 51 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 20 ′  N , 2 ° 51 ′  W
Height :	685  msnm
Area :	44.9 km²
Residents :	685 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	15.26 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	19118
Municipality number  ( INE ):	19022
administration
Website :	Almonacid de Zorita

Almonacid de Zorita is a small town in central Spain and a municipality ( municipio ) with only 685 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the province of Guadalajara in the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha . The municipality belongs to the sparsely populated region of the Serranía Celtibérica . The place name is of Arabic origin and means something like the king's garden ( almunia = huerto = "garden"; cid = "lord", "king")

Location and climate

Almonacid de Zorita, which is almost 685  m high, is located in the south of the Alcarria landscape in the north of the southern part of the Iberian plateau ( meseta ) . The provincial capital Guadalajara is about 55 km (driving distance) in a north-westerly direction; the lovely town of Pastrana is a good 13 km north. The climate in winter is temperate, while in summer it is warm to hot; the rather low amounts of precipitation (approx. 405 mm / year) fall - with the exception of the almost rainless summer months - distributed over the whole year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2019
Residents	1,345	1,338	1,540	870	685

As a result of the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting loss of jobs, the population of the municipality has decreased significantly since the middle of the 20th century ( rural exodus ).

economy

The people of earlier centuries lived mainly as self-sufficiency from agriculture and livestock farming , whose durable products (cheese, sausage, animal skins and wool) could be exchanged or sold at traveling traders. The José Cabrera nuclear power plant , which was commissioned in 1969 and was shut down in April 2006, is also located on the Tagus River .

history

Celts , Romans and Visigoths left no usable traces on the municipal area and even Moorish traces are rare. In the second half of the 11th century they were taken over by King Alfonso VI's army . driven out of the region by León ( reconquista ) . The period of repopulation ( repoblación ) began with Christians from other parts of the Iberian Peninsula . In 1176 Alfonso VIII of Castile handed the place over to the knights of the Calatrava order , but it fell back to the Castilian crown in the early 13th century . In 1565 the place was supposed to be sold to the nobleman Ruy Gómez de Silva , who had just been appointed Duke of Pastrana , but the citizens collected 2 million maravedis to remain under the direct sovereignty of the crown.

Portal of the Church

Attractions

• In the center there are several pillar houses (soportales) . A public fountain is provided with a drinking trough (Abrevadero) connected.
• Several parts of the late medieval city ​​wall (muralla) have been preserved.
• Nearby is a clock tower (torre de reloj) with a bell cage at the top.
• The Iglesia de Santo Domingo de Silos dates from the 15th / 16th centuries. Century; however, it experienced several changes in the period that followed. The portal with its original wooden doors and décor in late Gothic - Isabelline style has been preserved ; the upper part is framed by an alfiz . The three-aisled interior, however, clearly shows classicist features.
• The Ermita de Nuestra Señora la Luz was the church of the Jesuit order . Its early baroque facade is raised by two small side bell gables (espandañas) .
• The Convento de la Concepción served various women's orders as a home; its structure is in acute danger.
• The Palacio de los Condes de San Rafael , built in the 18th century, is also important .

literature

• Antonio Herrera Casado: Historia de Almonacid de Zorita . AACHE Ediciones, Guadalajara 2003, ISBN 978-84-96236-07-3 .

Web links

Commons : Almonacid de Zorita  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Almonacid de Zorita, tourism site - photos + information (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ↑ Almonacid de Zorita | Zorita de los Canes - climate tables
3. ^ Almonacid de Zorita - population development
4. ↑ Almonacid de Zorita - History
5. ↑ Almonacid de Zorita - city wall
6. ↑ Almonacid de Zorita - Church
7. ↑ Almonacid de Zorita - Ermita
8. ^ Almonacid de Zorita - Convention