Village
Híjar is a town and municipality of the Bajo Martín, in the province of Teruel, within the historic Bajo Aragón, the administrative capital of the comarca and one of the villages of the Ruta del Tambor y el Bombo; it preserves its old Jewish quarter and the Arco de Santa Ana. It sits by the río Martín, a tributary of the Ebro, at 291 metres above sea level. Its name has changed with each period: Arse or Ars in Roman times, Igar in Phoenician and Ixar in Arabic, from which the current form derives, perhaps related to the Arabic hijár, 'stones', because of the stone bridges over the río Martín. The municipal area preserves cave paintings in the four canyons and Iberian remains at sites such as La Valecia, as well as a Roman villa at Val de Muzas, with mosaics and terra sigillata pottery.
Monument
The old Jewish quarter of Híjar, a testimony to the medieval coexistence of the three cultures. It is arranged around the triangular plaza of San Antón and the streets of la Fuente, Jesús and Azaguán, at the foot of the castle square. It flourished during the late Middle Ages and came to have around 150 residents at the end of the 15th century, until the expulsion of 1492; a document from 1410 records the request to enlarge the synagogue by Açach Chinillo. The old synagogue is preserved today as the hermitage of San Antonio Abad, with a single nave and a gabled roof, where the location of the officiant's platform has been identified. The Jewish quarter also had its own oven, butcher's shop, ritual bath (mikveh), cemetery and Talmudic school, and it is listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Monument
A historic archway in the old town of Híjar.
Activity
A Holy Week celebration declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, with uninterrupted drumming in the towns of Bajo Martín and Bajo Aragón. The tradition, attributed to the knights of the Military Orders in the Middle Ages, consists of “breaking the hour” - starting the beating of drums and bass drums - on Holy Thursday or Good Friday, each locality with its own tunic colour, not ceasing until Holy Saturday through shifts of drummers. Híjar, where as early as 1519 the duke commissioned the Franciscans to organise Holy Week, was in 1980 the first locality on the route to be declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest, a distinction extended to the rest of the towns in 2005 and raised to International Tourist Interest in 2014.
Curiosity
A Semana Santa tradition of Híjar, part of the Semana Santa of the Bajo Martín, declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Activity
The patron saint festivities of Híjar are held from 19 to 23 August in honour of the Virgen del Carmen and the Virgen de Arcos; they were traditionally held in September, but in the 1970s were moved to August to make it easier for those from Híjar living elsewhere to take part. On 17 January San Antón is also celebrated, with the blessing of animals.
Monument
Híjar preserves several hermitages: that of el Calvario or Santo Sepulcro (1719-1732), with a Greek-cross plan; that of Santa Bárbara (16th century, restored in 1945); that of el Carmen (1900); and that of San Antonio Abad, housed in a former medieval synagogue barely altered since the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.
Monument
The town hall of Híjar stood, according to a mid-19th-century description, in a circular, arcaded square where the jails could also be seen.
Nature
The river Martín, a tributary of the Ebro, forms a distinctive valley next to the town centre of Híjar; three irrigation channels drawn from the so-called Gaén irrigate about 1,450 cahizadas of market garden that historically produced grain, wine, oil and hemp.
Activity
In the Jewish quarter of Híjar, a bonfire is lit on the night of San Antón on which pork and lamb are roasted, following a house-to-house collection whose proceeds are auctioned that same evening.
Curiosity
Híjar preserves one of the best-documented Jewish quarters of the Bajo Aragón, with its historic Jewish quarter and Hebrew printing press. The Jewish quarter is arranged around the triangular Plaza de San Antón and the adjoining streets of la Fuente, Jesús and Azaguan; by the late 15th century it had some 150 residents and had its own oven and butcher's shop, a ritual bath or miqwe, a fossar and a Talmudic school. A document from 1410 records that Açach Chinillo, adelantado of the Aljama de Ixar, requested the enlargement of the synagogue, today converted into the hermitage of San Antonio Abad after the expulsion of 1492, which retains its original single-nave structure. The Jewish quarter of Híjar is listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Monument
A space devoted to the history and traditions of the Bajo Martín, in Híjar.
Activity
The barrio de las Cantererías in Híjar celebrates San Blas on 3 February, with the blessing of the roscón and the singing of albadas, as part of the cycle of the santos capudos opened by San Antón on 17 January.
Monument
One of the old accesses to Híjar is preserved beneath the chapel of the Virgen de Arcos, built over one of the town's entrance gates; it is one of the most distinctive chapels in the region.
Historical milestone
In 1268 James I handed his natural son Pedro Fernández half of the castle of Híjar, the founding act of the barony. The resulting lineage governed for centuries much of the Bajo Martín and the Bajo Aragón of Teruel.
Historical milestone
In 1483 the Catholic Monarchs raised the lordship of Híjar to the category of a duchy. The ducal house made the town the head of an extensive noble estate that was not broken up until the sale of its possessions in 1826.
Historical milestone
Between 1485 and 1490 the Huesca printer Eliezer ben Abraham Alantansí worked in Híjar in the most important Hebrew workshop of the Hispanic kingdoms. From its presses came a Pentateuch dated 1490, shortly before the expulsion of the Jews.
Historical milestone
In 1517 the first duke of Híjar brought Franciscan friars to organize the Semana Santa processions. From that initiative begins the tradition of drums and bass drums that in 1980 was declared of national tourist interest.
Food and drink
The protected designation of origin, recognised in the year 2000, requires a minimum of eighty per cent empeltre olive. The result is a fluid oil, of a colour between golden and old gold, which is produced in the oil mills of the Martín valley.