Bijuesca

Bijuesca municipality
	Bijuesca - town view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Comunidad de Calatayud
Coordinates	41 ° 32 ′ N , 1 ° 55 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 32 ′ N , 1 ° 55 ′ W
Height :	955 msnm
Area :	57.08 km²
Residents :	94 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	1.65 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50316
Municipality number ( INE ):	50050
administration
Website :	Bijuesca

Bijuesca is a northern Spanish place and a municipality ( municipio ) with 94 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the far west of the province of Zaragoza and the autonomous region of Aragon . The place belongs to the poorly populated Serranía Celtibérica .

Location and climate

The town of Bijuesca, located near the border with the old Castilian province of Soria , is located on a mountain flank about 900 to 950 m high above the Río Manubles , a tributary of the Río Jalón ; it is located about 30 km (as the crow flies) southwest of the Sierra de Moncayo, which is a maximum of 2315 m high . The place is about 130 km (driving distance) to the west from the provincial capital Zaragoza ; the historically and culturally significant city of Calatayud is approx. 45 km to the south-east. The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 500 mm / year) falls spread over the year with the exception of the rather dry summer months.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2003	2017
Residents	730	835	784	123	99

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 ) since the middle of the 20th century .

economy

For centuries, the residents of the village lived directly or indirectly as self-sufficiency from agriculture, which also included livestock farming. The production of sheep and goat cheese and the processing of sheep wool were important economic factors in the 16th and 17th centuries. Today fruit trees in particular play an essential role in the economic life of the place; In addition, holiday apartments (casas rurales) are rented out.

history

Although the place belonged to the settlement area of the Celtiberian Lusones , so far neither Celtiberian nor Roman or Visigoth traces have been discovered. In the 8th century Arab-Moorish armies penetrated into the upper Ebro Valley, but even from this period there are no archaeologically usable traces of Bijuesca. Around 1120 the area was recaptured by Alfonso I of Aragón ( reconquista ) , but afterwards it was disputed for a long time between the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile ( Guerra de los Dos Pedros ) ; this dispute only ended with the marriage of the Catholic Kings Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragón in 1469.

Attractions

Bijuesca - medieval stone bridge

From the mid-14th century from quarry stone built, but shortly afterwards in the war against Castile destroyed castle (castillo) are still remnants of the once 18 m high the keep (Torre del homenaje) and the castle walls.
Near the castle is the almost simultaneously built single-nave and almost windowless Ermita de la Virgen del Castillo , whose tower has a crenellated wreath .
The Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel in the center of the village was built in the 17th century. The nave and apse are covered by lancet vaults.
In the valley, a two-arched medieval stone bridge crosses the sometimes swelling Río Manubles.