Santa Cruz de la Seros

Santa Cruz de la Serós / Santa Cruz d'as Serors municipality
	Santa Cruz de la Serós - town view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Huesca
Comarca :	Jacetania
Coordinates	42 ° 31 ′ N , 0 ° 40 ′ W Coordinates: 42 ° 31 ′ N , 0 ° 40 ′ W
Height :	790 msnm
Area :	26.96 km²
Residents :	183 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	6.79 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	22792
Municipality number ( INE ):	22209
administration
Website :	Santa Cruz de la Seros

Santa Cruz de la Serós is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with about 183 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the comarca Jacetania in the province of Huesca in the autonomous community of Aragon . The place is on a branch of the Camino de Santiago . Another district is Binacua .

Location and climate

The place Santa Cruz de la Serós is in the foothills of the Pyrenees approx. 87 km (driving distance) northwest of the provincial capital Huesca at an altitude of approx. 790 m . Jaca , the old capital of the Kingdom of Aragón is only approx. 18 km northeast and the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, which is well worth seeing, is only 8 km to the southeast. The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 775 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2018
Residents	320	392	286	139	180

As a result of the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting lower demand for labor, the number of inhabitants has fallen significantly since the 1950s. The hamlet (pedanía) Binacua , which still has around 30 inhabitants, also belongs to the community .

economy

For centuries, the community was oriented towards agriculture for the purpose of self-sufficiency , with livestock farming (milk, cheese, meat) in the foreground. Today holiday apartments (casas rurales) are rented out mainly in the summer months .

history

Celtiberian , Roman , Visigoth and even Islamic-Moorish traces have not yet been discovered. A military reconquest ( reconquista ) of the area by the Christians did not take place. The county of Aragón was founded in 824 and was annexed to the Kingdom of Navarre in the 10th century . As a result of the marriage between Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragón and the capture of Navarre in 1512, the region was united with the Spanish crown.

Attractions

Church San Caprasio

Santa María Church

In addition to a few rustic farmhouses with traditional, tall, conical chimneys, there are two important Romanesque churches in the village :

The early Romanesque parish church of San Caprasio , dedicated and named after the supposed first bishop of Agen (formerly probably belonging to a Benedictine monastery) was probably built around the year 1060 and clearly shows Lombard style influences with its pilasters and the associated arched friezes . The associated convent was dissolved in the 12th century, the church became a parish church and around 1150 was given an unadorned and undivided bell tower (campanario) . The impressively simple interior consists of a ship (nature) and a slightly recessed apse .

The significantly larger and overall “modern” looking church of Santa María is the remnant of what is probably the most famous nunnery in Aragon. The Holy Cross Monastery (Monasterio de Santa Cruz) was founded around 1060 by Ramiro I of Aragon to take care of his daughters Urraca, Teresa and Sancha. These sisters (sorores) probably also influenced the place name. Following the prominent example, the monastery became a pension facility for non-marriageable members of the Aragonese high nobility. In 1555 the last Benedictine nuns are said to have left the village and moved to the Redeemer Monastery of Monasterio del Salvador in Jaca ; other sources give the 17th century as the time of the move. All other buildings belonging to the monastery were then destroyed.

Surroundings

The community also includes the San Juan de la Peña monastery , located about 8 km southeast of the village, and the Romanesque country church of the hamlet of Binacua .

literature

Míllan Bravo Lozano: Practical pilgrim guide. The Camino de Santiago. Editorial Everest, Léon 1994, ISBN 84-241-3835-X .
Ulrich Wagner: The Spanish Way of St. James. Dumont Reiseverlag, Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-7701-3415-X .
Heinz Schomann: Art Monuments of the Iberian Peninsula - Part 1: Portugal and Northern Spain. Scientific Book Society Darmstadt, 1996 special edition for the members of the Scientific Book Society, p. 287.
Susana Zapke: The Antiphonary from Sta. Cruz de la Seros. 12th century Neuried 1996.