Ambel (Saragossa)

Ambel parish
	Ambel - Palacio de los Hospitalarios
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Campo de Borja
Coordinates	41 ° 48 ′ N , 1 ° 37 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 48 ′ N , 1 ° 37 ′ W
Height :	575 msnm
Area :	61.46 km²
Residents :	254 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.13 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50546
Municipality number ( INE ):	50027
administration
Website :	Ambel

Ambel is a northern Spanish city and a municipality ( municipio ) with 254 inhabitants (at January 1, 2019) in the far west of the province of Zaragoza in the autonomous community of Aragon . The municipality belongs to the poorly populated Serranía Celtibérica .

Location and climate

Ambel is about 15 km (as the crow flies) east of the Sierra de Moncayo, which is a maximum of 2315 m high, and a good 73 km (driving distance) northwest of the provincial capital Saragossa near the border with the old Castilian province of Soria at an altitude of about 575 m . The historically significant cities of Tarazona and Borja are approx. 20 km to the north-west and approx. 10 km to the north-east, respectively. The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 460 mm / year) falls spread over the year with the exception of the rather dry summer months.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	799	924	936	357	254

The mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the associated loss of jobs led to a significant decline in the population ( rural exodus ) in the second half of the 20th century .

economy

For centuries, the residents of the place lived directly (as small farmers or servants) or indirectly (as traders or craftsmen) from agriculture, which also included cattle breeding (sheep, goats, chickens). They worked on the land of the landlords as well as their own fields and gardens. Today many houses are rented out as holiday apartments (casas rurales) , mainly in summer .

history

So far, no finds have been made from the Celtiberian , Roman or Visigothic times. In the 8th century Arab-Moorish armies advanced to the north of the Iberian Peninsula . The area was after the reconquest ( reconquista ) of the city of Zaragoza in 1118 by the Aragonese King Alfonso I christian again. Around the middle of the 12th century, the place was entrusted to the Knights Templar (encomienda) ; after its forced dissolution in the years 1307-1312, the place came into the possession of the Order of St. John . During this time, the construction of the church palace, which is still visible today, essentially fell.

Attractions

Ermita de la Virgen del Rosario

There was already a castle in the Moorish era, but nothing has survived; Templars and Johanniter created the present order palace in their place. The church's church formerly had a representative south side with a row of balconies and loggias, which are now largely walled up. The nave was modernized in the 17th century.

The bell tower (campanar) of the Ermita de la Virgen del Rosario , built from bricks around the middle of the 16th century , shows abstract, geometric ornamental forms of the Mudejar style . The rest of the church, including the original facade design, dates from around 1700.