Village
Albarracín, considered the most beautiful village in Spain, is a municipality in south-western Teruel whose old town, on a crag almost encircled by the río Guadalaviar, has been a Monumento Nacional (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1961 and is proposed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site; in 1996 it received the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts. Its name derives from Aben Razín, a Berber family whose descendants were taifa kings of Albarracín, although until the 19th century its official name was Ciudad de Santa María de Albarracín. The village, of the spur type like Cuenca or Ronda, has steep streets and houses hanging over the river gorge, with popular wrought-iron architecture and the reddish colour of rodeno sandstone; it is divided into the old quarter and the Arrabal, on the flood plain. Nearby rise the rivers Guadalaviar, Tagus, Júcar and Jiloca.
Monument
The walls of Albarracín, of Christian construction from the 14th century, rest on sections and towers of earlier origin: the Andador tower preserves Muslim masonry from the 10th and 11th centuries, reinforced with a small rectangular enclosure, while the Muela tower, now vanished, stood on the opposite bank of the river. The alcazaba crowning the complex was the seat of Andalusi power of the Banu Razín in the 11th century; after the Aragonese conquest of 1284 it was profoundly transformed and remained occupied until the end of the 16th century, before being destroyed in the 18th century during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Monument
The cathedral of El Salvador is the Christian temple of Albarracín (Teruel), in the heart of the medieval town next to the episcopal palace, and forms part of the city's Historic-Monumental Ensemble. It stands on the remains of a Romanesque temple from the late 12th century; the current building began construction in 1572, under the direction of Martín de Castañeda and the Frenchman Quinto Pierres Vedel. It has a single nave with side chapels and a Gothic ribbed vault, a polygonal main chapel with a Renaissance altarpiece of 1566 by Cosme Damián Bas, and a choir at the foot with 16th-century choir stalls and a grille. It is entered through the apse, with a Baroque doorway and staircase. On the outside stands out the Renaissance tower of four levels, the last octagonal, with reused Roman ashlars at its base.
Monument
The Episcopal Palace of Albarracín, the former palace of the bishops of Albarracín (Teruel), was built in the 18th century. Its main and domestic quarters today house the Diocesan Museum of Albarracín.
Curiosity
A group of rock shelters and caves with schematic Levantine rock art, from the Epipalaeolithic to the Bronze Age, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 within the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Among the best-known sites is the Cueva de Doña Clotilde, in the protected area of the Pinares de Rodeno, within the municipal boundary of Albarracín, about 7 kilometres from the town on the road towards Bezas. Made known in 1949 by the archaeologist Martín Almagro Basch, it preserves around 40 figures in different shades of red, including 15 undetermined quadrupeds, along with anthropomorphic figures in Levantine and schematic style, and serpentine, tree-like and geometric anchor-shaped forms. It has also been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 2002.
Curiosity
The Parque Cultural de Albarracín, declared in 2001, protects a mountainous territory of dense pine forests and striking rodeno outcrops shared between five municipalities of the sierra de Albarracín: Albarracín, Ródenas, Pozondón, Bezas and Tormón. It is one of Aragon's five cultural parks, together with San Juan de la Peña, Río Vero, Río Martín and Maestrazgo. Among its outstanding features are examples of Levantine rock art declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, urban ensembles and examples of traditional architecture such as ovens, mills and washing places, as well as the Rodeno Protected Natural Area, with its characteristic sandstone formations.
Activity
Albarracín celebrates its patron saint festivities in honour of Santa María de Oriente on 8 September and of the Santo Cristo de la Vega on 14 September, with open-air dances, processions, bullfights and the parade of cabezudos (big-heads) to the sound of dulzaina pipes.
Historical milestone
The Banu Razín were a branch of the Berber Hawwara tribe settled in the Sierra de Albarracín, with domains reaching as far as the upper Jiloca -called Sahla, from which Cella derives- and perhaps as far as Calamocha. The family is already mentioned in connection with an expedition by Abd al-Rahman III in 935; after the death of their leader, around 972, his sons were confirmed as lords by Caliph al-Hakam II, with notable autonomy in exchange for tribute. Taking advantage of the crisis of the Caliphate of Córdoba, in the 11th century, between 1012 and 1014, Jálaf ben Razín proclaimed himself independent and made Santa Mariya al-Xarc the capital of a taifa, from which the place name Albarracín derives. The taifa appears in the Poem of the Cid as an ally of the Cid and survived until the Almoravid campaigns that subdued the taifa kingdoms of al-Andalus.
Historical milestone
In 1170 the Navarrese family of the Azagra received the territory by cession and not by conquest, and governed it as a seigneury de facto independent of Castile and of Aragon. Jaime I failed in his attempt to take it in 1220.
Historical milestone
Between 1284 and 1285 Pedro III of Aragon besieged and took the city, putting an end to more than a century of seigneurial independence. The territory was formally incorporated into the Crown of Aragon in the year 1300.
Historical milestone
In 1257 Jaime I granted privileges to the Comunidad de Santa María de Albarracín, which brought together the hamlets of the sierra and administered woodlands, pastures and communal uses. It was organised into sesmas with representation of their own.
Historical milestone
In July 1937 the Popular Army launched an offensive on Albarracín as a diversionary manoeuvre on the Teruel front. The fighting affected the old town and the fortified positions around the wall.
Food and drink
Crumbled stale bread sautéed with oil, garlic and pork rashers, served with grapes or with chocolate depending on the household. It is the most widespread recipe of pastoral origin in the sierra and figures on the menus of the city's restaurants.