Village
Calanda is a town in the Bajo Aragón comarca, in the province of Teruel, with 3.745 inhabitants (INE 2025), situated at the foot of the Sistema Ibérico and watered by the Guadalope and Guadalopillo rivers. Its name derives from the Celtiberian settlement of Kolenda, and Romans, Visigoths and Arabs later passed through its lands; the local fondness for drumming goes back to the struggles against the Arabs, in the 12th century, when drums were used to warn of their attacks. The reconquest of Calanda was begun by Alfonso I the Battler in 1119, though it was not completed until 1169-1170, under Alfonso II. A town famous for its Designation of Origin peach and for the Ruta del Tambor y el Bombo, it preserves next to the village the pine grove known as the desierto de Calanda.
Monument
The birthplace of the filmmaker Luis Buñuel Portolés, in Calanda (Teruel), where he was born on 22 February 1900, today functions as an interpretation centre devoted to his life and work. He was the son of Leonardo Manuel Buñuel González, a native of the same village, a soldier in Cuba and owner of a hardware store and a shipping company, and of María Portolés Cerezuela; the family soon moved to Zaragoza, but continued to spend Holy Week and the summers in Calanda. Regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in history, Buñuel made most of his work in Mexico and France because of Francoist censorship, although in Spain he shot landmark films such as Viridiana, in 1961, and Tristana, in 1970.
Curiosity
Drum and bass drum playing during Semana Santa in the Bajo Aragón, listed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2018, centred on Calanda, Alcañiz and Alcorisa.
Curiosity
Melocotón de Calanda is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) covering the Prunus persica grown in Bajo Aragón, in the province of Teruel, mainly around Calanda and its surrounding area, and a mark of the town's gastronomic identity; its production dates back to the Middle Ages, when it is described in documents under the names présec or priscos. It is a late-ripening peach of the native late yellow variety, grown between the provinces of Teruel and Zaragoza using the traditional technique of individually bagging the fruit between June and July; it is recognised by its size, its uniform yellow colour without streaks, and its distinctive sweet flavour. Cultivation expanded from the 1950s and reached its greatest extent, close to 3,000 hectares, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Activity
Patron saint festivities of Calanda around 12 October, in honour of the Virgen del Pilar, with a floral offering; in August San Roque is also celebrated. The Holy Week of drums and bass drums of Calanda was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO on 29 November 2018.
Monument
The Temple of the Pilar of Calanda was erected from 1640 in thanksgiving for the miracle of Calanda, the healing of Miguel Pellicer's leg; the works were expanded from 1668, when the image of the Virgen del Pilar was placed on the main altar, and the last major expansion began in 1739. The temple suffered great damage during the Civil War: republican militias used it as a cinema and destroyed the main altarpiece, which came from the Convento del Desierto, the set of bells and the tombs, among them that of Cardinal Antonio María Cascajares. It was restored on a large scale between 1978 and 1984 under the direction of José Arbiol. It preserves a collection of about a hundred cloaks that dress the image, and every 12 October a pilgrimage is held in its honour.
Activity
La Rompida de la Hora is the central act of Holy Week in Calanda (Bajo Aragón, Teruel), the birthplace of the drum and bass-drum tradition. It takes place at midday on Good Friday, after a night vigil beginning at midnight on Holy Thursday featuring the so-called putuntunes, figures dressed as Roman soldiers. An invited personality, together with the mayor, strikes the first blow on a giant bass drum in the Plaza de España, setting off the combined roll of thousands of drums. Declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional e Internacional (Spain's highest designation for a festival of tourist interest), it was recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018. The filmmaker Luis Buñuel, a native of Calanda, spread this sound through his films and recalled it in his memoirs, Mi último suspiro (My Last Breath).
Historical milestone
Definitively reconquered around 1169 by Alfonso II, the town received a settlement charter in 1360 and came under the Order of Calatrava. Its Morisco population did not leave the place until the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Historical milestone
On 29 March 1640 the restoration of the amputated leg of Miguel Juan Pellicer was attributed to the Virgen del Pilar. A notarial deed recorded the case on 2 April of that year and the archbishopric declared it authentic on 27 April 1641.
Historical milestone
The Battle of Calanda was one of the episodes of the First Carlist War, which began after the pretender Carlos refused to swear loyalty to María Cristina de Borbón. On 6 December 1833, in the early stages of the conflict, liberal forces under Colonel Linares defeated, near the Santa Bárbara hermitage on the outskirts of the town, the Carlist bands of Rafael Ram de Víu, who fell back to the Calanda trenches before being captured; the liberals occupied the town on 10 December. Ram de Víu managed to escape but was captured on 27 December in Manzanera, tried and shot in Teruel on 12 January 1834.