Urrea de Jalón

Urrea de Jalón municipality
	Urrea de Jalón - Iglesia de San Salvador
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Valdejalón
Coordinates	41 ° 40 ′ N , 1 ° 14 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 40 ′ N , 1 ° 14 ′ W
Height :	285 msnm
Area :	25.64 km²
Residents :	418 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	16.3 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50296
Municipality number ( INE ):	50269
administration
Website :	Urrea de Jalón

Urrea de Jalón (Urrea for short) is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with a total of 418 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the center of the province of Saragossa in the autonomous region of Aragon in northeastern Spain .

Location and climate

The place Urrea de Jalón is located on the east bank of the Río Jalón a good 40 km (driving distance) west of the provincial capital Saragossa at an altitude of approx. 285 m . The climate is temperate to warm; the rather sparse rain (approx. 370 mm / year) falls over the year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	789	799	933	334	402

As a result of increasing drought, the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of numerous small farms and the resulting lower demand for labor in rural areas, the number of inhabitants has fallen almost continuously since the middle of the 20th century as a result of the " rural exodus ".

economy

For centuries, the town's residents were essentially self-sufficient ; There were no grocery stores or markets, or only rarely. Even the few traders, craftsmen and service providers essentially provided themselves with everything they needed for life. The situation only improved with the improvement of the infrastructure in the second half of the 20th century.

history

In the municipality of Urrea de Jalón, neither Celtic nor Roman or even Visigoth small finds were discovered. In the 8th century the area was overrun by Arab-Moorish armies; It was not until the beginning of the 12th century that the Moors under Alfonso I of Aragón could be pushed south ( reconquista ) . Since the year 1326 the place was under the manorial rule (señorio) of the family Ximénez de Urrea, whose heads carried the title of vice count from 1460 and from 1508 the title of count Conde de Aranda .

Urrea de Jalón - Ermita y peirón de San Sebastián

Attractions

Nothing has survived from the former Moorish fortress (hisn) that existed here , as it was later changed by the Christians and was demolished in 1348 by royal orders.

The single-nave church of El Salvador , built almost entirely from bricks in the Mudejar style in the 16th century, has essentially retained its external appearance. Only the upper floor of the bell tower (campanar) , which was added in the 18th century , was plastered; the tower ends in a curved dome - a rarity in Spain.

Surroundings

The Torre de Castilluelo is what remains of a medieval castle.

The Ermita de San Sebastian , located about one kilometer west of the village, is the destination of an annual procession. Immediately next to it is a wayside shrine (peirón) with an empty figure niche.