Zael (Burgos)

Zael parish
Zael - Iglesia de Santa Eulalia
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Burgos
Comarca :	Arlanza (Comarca)
Coordinates	42 ° 7 ′  N , 3 ° 49 ′  W Coordinates: 42 ° 7 ′  N , 3 ° 49 ′  W
Height :	850  msnm
Area :	18.76 km²
Residents :	112 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	5.97 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	09339
Municipality number  ( INE ):	09480
administration
Website :	Zael

Zael is a place and a northern Spanish rural municipality ( municipio ) with only 112 inhabitants (at January 1, 2019) in the center of the province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon .

Location and climate

The place Zael is about 6 km north of the Río Arlanza in the Castilian plateau (meseta) about 36 km (driving distance) southwest of the provincial capital Burgos at an altitude of about 850  m ; the historically significant town of Lerma is only about 13 km to the south-east. The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 515 mm / year) falls over the year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2018
Residents	352	385	399	141	112

The mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the associated loss of jobs have led to a significant decline in the number of inhabitants since the middle of the 20th century ( rural exodus ).

economy

The inhabitants of the rural community live mainly from agriculture (agriculture, cattle breeding and viticulture); the community is part of the Arlanza (DO) wine-growing region . Since the 1960s, the summer rental of holiday homes (casas rurales) has also played a certain economic role.

history

Zael - church portal

Almost nothing is known about the origins of the place. Celtic , Roman , Visigoth and even Moorish traces are missing. In the early 10th century, the area was conquered by the Christians under the leadership of King Alfonso III. recaptured ( reconquista ) and then repopulated or repopulated ( repoblación ) ; The place was probably built around this time. On March 25, 1608, Philip III sold the manorial rule (señorio) over Zael and more than 300 other places to Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas , the Duke of Lerma.

Attractions

The small three-aisled Iglesia de Santa Eulalia was built in the 15th and 16th centuries. Century with echoes of a fortified church made of precisely hewn stones (in parts also quarry stones) on the site of a demolished medieval previous building. The south portal, which was added later, is a small masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture - the main characters are St. Catherine of Alexandria , St. Eulalia of Mérida and St. Agatha of Catania ; in the gable above is a Pietà representation. Inside, the carved and colored main altar (retablo) from 1787 in the classicist Baroque style with scenes from the life and passion of Christ is impressive . The Romanesque baptismal font (pila bautismal) comes from the previous church.

Web links

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

• Zael - Infos (wikiburgos, 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. ↑ Zael - climate tables
3. ↑ Zael - Population Development