Mazaleón

Mazaleón municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Teruel
Comarca :	Matarraña
Coordinates	41 ° 3 ′  N , 0 ° 6 ′  E Coordinates: 41 ° 3 ′  N , 0 ° 6 ′  E
Height :	359  msnm
Area :	86.25 km²
Residents :	522 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	6.05 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	44621
Municipality number  ( INE ):	44147
administration
Official language :	spanish and catalan
Mayor :	Exaltación Sorolla Andreu ( PP )

View of Mazaleón

Cross in Mazaleón

Mazaleón ( Catalan : Massalió ) is a Spanish municipality in the province of Teruel in the Autonomous Region of Aragón . It is located in the north of the Comarca Matarraña (Matarranya) in the predominantly Catalan-speaking area of ​​the Franja de Aragón on the Rio Matarraña south of Maella on the A-1412 road. On January 1, 2019, the community had 522 inhabitants.

Toponymy

The name of the community is derived from the Arabic manzil al-'ayún منرل العيون. In the Spanish translation it became Mazaleón, a place name whose interpretation is also reflected in the municipality's coat of arms: a lion ( Spanish : león ) holding a mace ( Spanish : maza ).

history

The pre-Iberian settlement

The area of ​​what is now Matarraña County has always been a geographical region that represented a link or border area between the Mediterranean coast and the interior. Settlement in the municipality of Mazaleón goes back to prehistoric times in the 5th century BC. BC back. The remains of a pre-Iberian settlement with a necropolis are right next to the hermitage of San Cristóbal, which, when viewed from Mazaleón, stands on a hill across the Matarraña river. Only with the arrival of the Romans in 218 BC Chr. , The settlements were abandoned in the region.

In the Middle Ages, the basis for today's division of the district was laid when Mazaleón fell to the Archbishop of Saragossa in 1179, together with neighboring communities such as Fuentespalda , Valderrobres , Torre del Compte and Beceite . During this period Mazaleón was dominated by a castle complex, of which only the remains of the walls and the castle's oil presses are preserved, in which the inhabitants kept the olive oil from which the tithe was collected, which had to be paid to the lord of the village, the archbishop .

During the early modern period , the growing power of the community manifested itself in the construction of a church in the 14th century and a town hall in the 16th century . The economic basis for the upswing was provided by a special form of oil production in which a large number of oil presses were used over a time frame of eight to nine months.

Population development

1991	1996	2001	2004	2014	2017
629	608	604	587	540	543

traffic

Mazaleón is on the A-1412 road, 11 kilometers south of the neighboring town of Maella and 14 kilometers northwest of Calaceite . The nearest train station is in Caspe , 32 kilometers from Mazaleón. The community itself is only served by a regional bus line. There are three airports in the vicinity of Mazaleón: Barcelona El Prat (198 kilometers; 2.5 hours driving time), Zaragoza Airport (147 kilometers; 1.75 hours), Reus Airport (110 kilometers; 1.5 hours).

Attractions

The casa consistorial

Facade of the church

• The town hall of Mazaleón (Casa consistorial) consists of natural stone masonry on a rectangular floor plan and three floors. It was built in the 16th century and later expanded in the 18th century . It has two free facades, one of them on the Plaza Mayor side. The building's ground floor consists of an open passageway with two symmetrical arches on the Plaza Mayor side and a single arch on the Ramón y Cajal side. In the inner area of ​​the passage, to the left of the main facade, there is an arched gate made of ashlar masonry, over which the municipal coat of arms can be seen. The gate leads to a small inner courtyard with a staircase that was built later. The town hall and the original holding cells are located on the first floor. At this point there was the earlier access to the town hall via a narrow external staircase, which is no longer available today. The upper floor has also been redesigned several times over the years. There is a door there that leads to Calle Isidoro Amela. The main facade, which stands on the Plaza Mayor, has horizontal dividing elements between the floors. Two small balconies open up on each of the two upper floors. At the height of the first floor, the municipal coat of arms is attached: a lion holding a mace above the year 1742. A modern clock was installed on the facade at the top of the top floor gable. The town hall has been a listed building since 2001.
• The also listed church of Santa Maria la Mayor.
• San Cristobal Hermitage
• Preiberian ruins
• Bridge over the Matarraña

Individual evidence

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).
2. ↑ http://matarranyaturismo.es/historia/
3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

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