Tierga

Tierga municipality
	Tierga - location view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Aranda (Spain)
Coordinates	41 ° 36 ′ N , 1 ° 36 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 36 ′ N , 1 ° 36 ′ W
Height :	700 msnm
Area :	66.13 km²
Residents :	186 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	2.81 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50269
Municipality number ( INE ):	50254
administration
Website :	Tierga

Tierga is a northern Spanish town and municipality ( municipio ) with only 186 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the northwest of the province of Saragossa in the west of the autonomous region of Aragon . The place belongs to the poorly populated Serranía Celtibérica .

Location and climate

Tierga is located on the Río Isuela about 20 km southeast of the Sierra de Moncayo, which is a maximum of 2315 m high, and about 83 km (driving distance) west of the provincial capital Zaragoza near the border with the Old Castilian province of Soria at an altitude of about 630 to 700 m . The climate is temperate to warm; the rather sparse rain (approx. 430 mm / year) falls spread over the year with the exception of the dry summer months.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	558	683	760	253	190

The mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the associated loss of jobs led to a significant decline in 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 processing of sheep's wool was an important economic factor in the 16th and 17th centuries. Today orchards and viticulture play important roles in the economic life of the place; In addition, holiday apartments (casas rurales) are rented out.

history

Tierga - bell tower (campanar)

Although the place belonged to the settlement area of the Celtiberian Lusones , Celtiberian and Visigoth traces have not yet been discovered. The place name Tertakom has been handed down from Roman times ; the place had the right to mint at times . In the 8th century Arab-Moorish armies advanced into the upper Ebro Valley; the local castle is sometimes associated with the Moors . Around 1120 the area was recaptured by Alfonso I of Aragon ( reconquista ) . Later it was disputed 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

The castle (castillo) built on the highest point of the place probably already existed in Moorish times; it was expanded by the Christians in the 13th and 14th centuries, but probably destroyed in the conflict with Castile.

The single-aisled Iglesia de San Juan Bautista was built around the middle of the 16th century instead of a previous building. With the exception of the portal and the corner stones, it consists of rough but plastered rubble stones; the representative portal area and the two upper floors of the bell tower (campanar) , on the other hand, are made of bricks in Mudéjar style , with the tower showing numerous geometric stone patterns. The nave is spanned by a late Gothic star vault. The carved altarpiece (retablo) shows scenes from the Passion of Christ .

Surroundings

Traces of a Roman road (calzada romana) can be found in the vicinity of the place.

Web links

Commons : Tierga - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Tierga, tourism site - photos + information (Spanish)

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] Tierga - climate tables

[3] Tierga - Population Development

[4] Tierga - Antiquity

[5] Tierga - Castillo

[6] Tierga - Castillo

[7] Tierga - Church

[8] Tierga - Church

[9] Tierga - Church

[10] Tierga - Roman road