Frías (Burgos)

Frías municipality
	Frías - town view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Burgos
Comarca :	Las Merindades
Coordinates	42 ° 46 ′ N , 3 ° 18 ′ W Coordinates: 42 ° 46 ′ N , 3 ° 18 ′ W
Height :	555 msnm
Area :	29.37 km²
Residents :	252 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	8.58 inhabitants / km²
Founding:	12th century
Postal code :	09211
Municipality number ( INE ):	09134
administration
Website :	Frías

Frías - View from the castle over the town

Frías is a place and a municipality with 252 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the northern Spanish province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and León . Because of its medieval appearance, the place was recognized as a cultural asset ( Bien de Interés Cultural ) in the category Conjunto histórico-artístico . Despite its small population, the place is officially allowed to call itself a "city" ( ciudad ) - Frías is the smallest city in Spain.

location

Frías is located on the northwestern edge of the Montes Obarenes-San Zadornil Nature Park on an approximately 550 meter high rock ridge ( Cerro de La Muela ) above the Río Molinar, which flows into the Ebro only about a kilometer further east . Frías is just under 80 kilometers (driving distance) in a north-easterly direction from Burgos ; the next largest city is Briviesca - it is located about 35 kilometers south.

Population development

year	1877	1900	1930	1950	1981	2014
Residents	1,372	1,120	1.004	864	335	272

The mechanization of agriculture and the associated increased unemployment as well as the significantly higher mobility of people compared to earlier times led to a sharp decline in population in the 20th century.

economy

In earlier centuries Frías was the artisanal and mercantile center of a large number of individual farms and small villages in its agrarian region, in which today mainly vegetables are grown. The mechanization of agriculture and the lack of proximity to a larger city led to a significant decline in the population in the second half of the 20th century.

Day and weekend tourism as well as the rental of holiday homes ( casas rurales ) now play an important role in the economic life of the place.

history

About 500 meters downstream from the medieval bridge over the Ebro, an ancient Roman road led through a ford. The first mention of a castle comes from the year 867 - this is also the time when the area was repopulated ( repoblación ) by the Christians who were driven north by the Arabs and their Berber tribes allied with them . In the 11th century Frías was briefly part of the county of Castile under Sancho García , but came under Sancho III after his death . for a few decades under the rule of the Kingdom of Navarre . In 1435 the place received city rights from Johann II . In the further course of the 15th century, the place came under the influence of the ambitious Velasco family ; in 1492 the hereditary title of Duke of Frías was created by the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella and bestowed on Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Mendoza , whose descendants held it until 1986.

and display information about the image

Panorama of Frías and its surroundings

Attractions

The view of the upper town of Frías attracts many tourists. The two- or three- story half-timbered houses ( casas colgadas ) on the south side rise directly above the steep rock walls.

The ruins of the medieval castle ( castillo ) occupy the western part of the rock ridge, which was previously only accessible via a man-made crevice with the help of a drawbridge . In 1830 the keep ( torre de homenaje ) collapsed and killed 30 people.

The single-nave parish church of San Vicente Mártir y San Sebastián rises at the other end of the village opposite the castle. Little can be seen of the original Romanesque building due to later modifications and additions; in the 14th and 16th centuries, two chapels were added on the south side. In 1904 the bell tower collapsed and the entire west side of the church was rebuilt in neo-Romanesque style. The remains of the ruined Romanesque portal of the church ended up in The Cloisters Museum in New York ; they were put together and supplemented there (photo see web link).

Frías - hanging houses ( casas colgadas )
Street with a view of the castle
Courtyard
Church of San Vicente Mártir y San Sebastián

Surroundings

There are other churches and other buildings outside the town center:

The Augustinian convent Convento de Santa María de Vadillo , founded in 1219, was later converted into a hospital and dissolved in the 19th century as part of the dismortment of church property.
The church of San Vítores , built in the 13th century in the transition style from Romanesque to Gothic, has a bell gable in the west; the entrance portal is on the south side.
The Franciscan Convent ( Convento de San Francisco ) dates back to the 14th century and was also used for residential purposes for a long time.
The nine-arched medieval bridge over the Ebro is famous for its length of 143 meters. It was repaired several times and was given a tower in the 14th century , which made it easier to collect the bridge toll . The bridge piers are sharpened on the upstream side to deflect floating debris (tree trunks).
In the valley of the Río Molinar there is a roofed wash house ( lavadero ) from the 18th or 19th century, which is rare in Spain .
A four-kilometer hike through the valley of the Río Molinar leads to the hamlet of Tobera with its medieval arched bridge, a path chapel from the 17th century and the single-aisled hermit church ( ermita ) of Santa María de la Hoz , which is essentially Parts dates from the 13th century.

San Vitores Church
Bridge over the Ebro
Hermit Church ( Ermita ) Santa María de la Hoz

Web links

Commons : Frías - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : Ermita de Santa María de la Hoz - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ 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).

[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).