Calmarza

Calmarza municipality
	Calmarza - town view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Comunidad de Calatayud
Coordinates	41 ° 9 ′ N , 1 ° 55 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 9 ′ N , 1 ° 55 ′ W
Height :	900 msnm
Area :	28.15 km²
Residents :	57 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	2.02 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50238
Municipality number ( INE ):	50070
administration
Website :	Calmarza

Calmarza is a northern Spanish city and a municipality ( municipio ) with only 57 inhabitants (at January 1, 2019) in the southwest of the province of Zaragoza in the autonomous community of Aragon . The municipality belongs to the poorly populated Serranía Celtibérica .

Location and climate

The place Calmarza is about 135 km (driving distance) southwest of the provincial capital Saragossa near the border with the old Castilian province Soria at an altitude of about 900 m . The historically significant city of Calatayud is approx. 52 km to the northeast. The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 450 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	351	352	517	98	64

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

Torre de los Palafox

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. The place was in the long disputed border area between the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile (see: " War of the Two Peter "). In 1381 it was sold to the landlord family "Palafox", who lived in Ariza , about 30 km to the north-west .

Attractions

In the 15th century a small castle (castillo) was built in the middle of the village , of which only the imposing, approx. 12 m high Torre de los Palafox has survived .
The Nuestra Señora de la Asunción church was built around 1700 instead of a previous medieval building. The nave is vaulted with a stitch cap , but there is a transept ; above the Vierungsbereich an exposed rises dome .
Immediately next to the church is the Ermita de las Flores