Belmonte de Gracián

Belmonte de Gracián municipality
	Belmonte - town view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Comunidad de Calatayud
Coordinates	41 ° 19 ′ N , 1 ° 32 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 19 ′ N , 1 ° 32 ′ W
Height :	645 msnm
Area :	43.68 km²
Residents :	197 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.51 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50332
Municipality number ( INE ):	50046
administration
Website :	Belmonte

Belmonte de Gracián or Belmonte for short is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with a total of 197 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the province of Saragossa in the autonomous region of Aragon in northeastern Spain .

Location and climate

The city of Belmonte is located at an altitude of approx. 650 m in the valley of the Río Perejiles, almost 13 km (driving distance) southeast of the city of Calatayud and approx. 95 km southwest of the provincial capital of Saragossa . The climate is harsh in winter, but temperate to warm in summer; the sparse rain (approx. 395 mm / year) falls over the year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	1,171	867	886	282	206

As a result of increasing drought, the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of numerous small farms and the resulting lower demand for labor in rural areas, the number of inhabitants is constantly falling ( rural exodus ).

Economy and Infrastructure

Agriculture, including dairy and pasture farming, played the most important role in the community's predominantly self - sufficient economic life for centuries . Dealers, craftsmen and service providers of all kinds have settled in the town itself. Viticulture has been playing a bigger role since the 1960s and tourism (renting out holiday homes) has also become increasingly important in economic life.

history

The first known inhabitants of the area around the present Calatayud were - mainly in Secaisa or Segeda resident - Celtiberians from the tribe of lusones that later with the Roman invaders worked together, leading to the settlement of tenant farmers led. In the 8th century the area was overrun by Arab-Moorish armies, whose successors residing here, however , were pushed south after the reconquest ( reconquista ) of Calatayud by Alfonso I (1120). Since 1910 the place called Belmonte del Río Perejiles ; since 1985 it has been officially called Belmonte de Gracián.

Attractions

Mudejar style church tower

There was a fortress (hisn) from Moorish times, in the place of which the Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Castillo rises today ; Remnants of the old quarry stone masonry have been preserved in the basement of the tower. The two lavishly decorated upper floors of the tower, built from bricks in Mudejar style, are raised by a statue of Christ that was erected in the 1960s.

Nearby are the rather inconspicuous remains of a Castillo-Palacio from the 14th century.

The tower of the San Miguel Church, which was rebuilt from the 16th to the 18th century, comes from the previous building and is a small masterpiece of the Mudejar style from around 1300. The nave , decorated with joint paintings , is spanned by an ornate reticulated vault; the apse was renewed in the 18th century and is a work of Neomudejar style. The main altar also dates from the 18th century and shows the Archangel Michael in victorious pose.

Surroundings

The Ermita de San Roque is about three kilometers outside the village.
The remains of a Celtiberian settlement and a Roman estate ( villa rustica ) have been excavated near Segeda (approx. 3 km southeast) .