Village
Caspe is the capital of the Bajo Aragón-Caspe, in Zaragoza, with 10,365 inhabitants and a territory of 503.33 square kilometres, the fourth largest in Aragon. It was here that the Compromiso de Caspe was settled in 1412, deciding the new king of the Crown of Aragon. The city gained that title in the 19th century, after the destruction of the Carlist Wars, by grant of Queen Isabella II. The river Ebro crosses its territory and dams its waters in the Mequinenza reservoir, known as the Sea of Aragon, into which the Guadalope also flows. To the southeast rises the sierra de Caspe and to the south that of Vizcuerno, with the highest point of the municipality, at 432 metres. The combination of steppe, river and mountain gives rise to a remarkable diversity of birds, with birds of prey such as the golden eagle.
Monument
A collegiate church situated in the highest part of the town centre of Caspe (Zaragoza), which together with the castle of the Bailío and the convent of the Order of San Juan formed a religious, civil and defensive complex. Its origin goes back to a former mosque consecrated after the reconquest of Caspe in 1169; the works on the present building, founded by the Military Order of the Hospital of Jerusalem under the invocation of Santa María, began in the 14th century and continued into the 15th, when in 1394 it was raised to the status of collegiate church. In 1412 it hosted the mass proclaiming the Compromiso de Caspe, which resolved the succession of the Crown of Aragon. During the Civil War a fire destroyed its altarpieces and two Gothic tombs. It is one of the great examples of Aragonese Gothic, declared a Monumento Nacional (a former Spanish heritage-protection category) in 1931.
Monument
The hermitage of Santa María de Horta, also called Santa María del Fondón after its original location, was rescued from the Mequinenza reservoir and rebuilt atop a hill overlooking Caspe (Bajo Aragón-Caspe, Zaragoza). It is an example of popular-style Romanesque architecture from the late 12th or early 13th century, built in ashlar, with an elongated keyhole-shaped plan divided into five bays and a semicircular apse with cavetto corbels.
Activity
The Fiestas del Compromiso de Caspe commemorate, with historical reenactments and parades, the pact sealed in the city in 1412 by representatives of the kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia and the principality of Catalonia to choose a new king of the Crown of Aragon, after the death in 1410 of Martin I the Humane without offspring or an accepted successor. From that Compromiso, Ferdinand of Antequera was chosen, regent of Castile and member of the Trastámara dynasty, who was enthroned as the new Aragonese monarch. The episode is considered one of the clearest examples of the regime of the Crown of Aragon, in which legal legitimacy took precedence over political powers, a principle that had great influence on the later development of the Spanish Monarchy.
Monument
Remains of the medieval castle of the Bailío de Caspe, next to the Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, with which it formed a kind of mixed acropolis of religious, civil and defensive buildings that also included a convent of the Order of Saint John. The castle was the residence of the commanders of that military order.
Monument
The mausoleum preserved in the municipality of Caspe (Bajo Aragón-Caspe, Zaragoza) is a Roman tomb-temple dated, probably, to the second half of the 2nd century or the beginning of the 3rd century. It was originally built beside the river Ebro and moved in 1962 to its current location, in the gardens of the Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, in the centre of Caspe, to save it from the construction of the Mequinenza reservoir. It is built of well-cut sandstone blocks, with a large barrel vault 8 metres high and remains of columns and Corinthian capitals at the corners; it is considered one of the best examples of the passage of the Roman Empire through the lands of the Ebro.
Monument
Museum devoted to the Compromiso de Caspe of 1412, at which the new king of the Crown of Aragón was chosen.
Monument
The historic town hall of Caspe, on the plaza Mayor, has a Classicist façade from the 19th century. The building is known for having hosted the Compromise of Caspe, the meeting of nine compromisarios, three for Aragon, three for Catalonia and three for Valencia, held between March and April 1412, with deliberations extending until 25 June, which concluded on 28 June 1412 with the proclamation of Ferdinand of Antequera as the new king of the Crown of Aragon.
Nature
Riverbanks and riparian woodland of the Ebro river as it passes through Caspe (Zaragoza), next to the mouth of the Guadalope. The riverside forests, formed mainly of black poplars, reed beds and rush beds, create a habitat that links with the surrounding mountain landscapes and dryland fields. Grey heron, purple heron, little bittern, little egret and kingfisher can be observed there.
Activity
Patronal festivities of Caspe, in the Bajo Aragón-Caspe, held from 12 to 17 August in honour of San Roque. On the 16th, the patron's feast day, an offering of fruit and a procession to his hermitage take place. The festive programme is rounded out with dances, young-bull runs, competitions and sporting activities.
Curiosity
Stretch of the Ebro Way of Saint James linking Caspe, Chiprana, Fayón, Nonaspe and Fabara. This pilgrim route, also called the Ebro Jacobean Way, runs 452 kilometres from the Ebro delta to Logroño, where it joins the Camino Francés, following the course of the river through Tarragona, Zaragoza, Navarre and La Rioja. The valley had been a communication route since Iberian and Roman times, documented in the Antonine Itinerary, although the eastern stretches only became passable for pilgrims from the mid-12th century, after the Christian conquest of Zaragoza (1118) and Tortosa (1149). The terrain, with gentle gradients but little shade, crosses arid landscapes and natural areas such as Los Monegros, and passes near the Roman mausoleums of Fabara.
Monument
Historic town hall of Caspe, capital of the Bajo Aragón-Caspe comarca, located on the town's plaza Mayor. The building retains a classicist 19th-century façade, in keeping with the group of buildings surrounding this square, the historic centre of the municipality.
Monument
Historic bridge over the River Ebro in Caspe.
Activity
Festival of San Antón in Caspe: on the weekend nearest 17 January the traditional tederos (bonfires) are lit in the streets, with tastings of typical products; a few days later, on 20 January, San Sebastián, another of the city's three patron saints, is celebrated.
Activity
The Expo Caspe, an agricultural, livestock, industrial and trade fair of the Bajo Aragón, grew out of an old livestock fair held around All Saints' Day; in 2024 it reached its 42nd edition.
Monument
Historic bridge over the River Guadalope as it passes through Caspe.
Curiosity
Tradition of Holy Week brotherhoods in Caspe (Zaragoza), declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico of Aragón (an honorific designation recognizing festivals of outstanding touristic and cultural value). During the processions through the historic quarter, the floats are accompanied by bass drums, side drums and bugles, in a celebration that brings together the different brotherhoods of the town.
Monument
Historic fountain in the town centre of Caspe.
Nature
Traditional dry-farmed olive groves in the municipal district of Caspe, within the area that produces Bajo Aragón olive oil.
Historical milestone
After the death in 1410 of Martín I de Aragón, the Humane, without descendants or an accepted successor, nine delegates from Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia met in Caspe to elect a king. Deliberations began on 22 April 1412, and on 28 June Fernando de Antequera, then regent of the kingdom of Castile and a member of the Trastámara dynasty, was proclaimed king, thus beginning a new dynasty in the Crown of Aragon. The Compromiso de Caspe showed one of the essential qualities of the Aragonese system, which placed legal legitimacy above political power, a principle that had great influence on the later development of the Spanish monarchy.
Historical milestone
During the First Carlist War the bands took Caspe in 1837 and, before withdrawing, set fire to the town. The official reports counted two hundred and twenty-three houses burned, a blow from which the town took decades to recover.
Historical milestone
In 1926 the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro was established in Caspe, the first body in Spain conceived to manage an entire river basin as a single unit. The idea had originated at the Primer Congreso Nacional de Riegos, held in Zaragoza in 1913, to bring together in a supra-regional body the associations of the whole area under the influence of the Ebro. Created by royal decree of 5 March 1926, under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, its first technical director was the engineer Manuel Lorenzo Pardo, a follower of Joaquín Costa and a great promoter of its founding. It changed its name several times in the 1930s, before recovering in 1934 the name Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro. Its creation anticipated the great cycle of reservoirs and canals that would transform the valley.
Historical milestone
Between 1936 and 1937 Caspe was the seat of the Council of Aragon, the revolutionary governing body of the Republican Aragonese zone. In March 1938 the city was the scene of hard fighting in which the International Brigades took part.
Food and drink
The dry climate of the lower Ebro makes it possible to dehydrate in the sun the tomato of the huerta, which is afterwards preserved in oil and used in salads and stews. Alongside it, olives of the empeltre variety dressed with herbs are the comarca's obligatory aperitif.
Food and drink
The irrigated land at the mouth of the Guadalope produces early cherries, favored by the mild winters and the early spring of the lower Ebro. They are picked in May and sold fresh; they are also preserved in aguardiente and in homemade jam.