Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Alfajarín

What to see and do in Alfajarín (Comarca Central, Zaragoza): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Activities

How far each place is from the centre of Alfajarín

Towns near Alfajarín

Spain › Aragon › Zaragoza › Comarca Central › Alfajarín

What to see and do in Alfajarín

Alfajarín
Village
Alfajarín is a municipality in the Comarca Central of Aragon, 20 km from Zaragoza, situated at 199 metres above sea level next to the Ebro, on quaternary deposits of the river; part of its territory falls within the Sotos y Galachos del Ebro nature reserve. Its Arabic name has been translated as 'the potters' or 'the stonemasons', and also as al-Ḥajarayn, 'the two crags', since the village sits at the foot of two of them: on one stands the Muslim castle, built in the 10th century to watch over the river, and on the other the 16th-century sanctuary of the Virgen de la Peña, both with Andalusi remains. James II granted the lordship to Pedro Cornel in 1293; his family fortified the town and rebuilt the castle until in 1437 Alfonso V transferred it to Juan de Mur.
Church of Alfajarín
Monument
Church of San Miguel Arcángel, the result of successive alterations to the old Mudéjar mosque of Zagri (12th century), of which it still preserves elements; alongside the dedication to San Miguel, the cult of Santa María Magdalena also survives. It was declared a bien de interés cultural in the category of monument on 6 November 2001.
Festivities of Alfajarín
Activity
Alfajarín celebrates its patron saint festivities in honour of the Virgen de la Peña on 8 September, lasting four or five days, and also celebrates San Miguel Arcángel, its patron, on 29 September.
The castle of Alfajarín and the barony of the Cornel family
Monument
The castle of Alfajarín crowns one of the hills bordering the Ebro valley, next to the hermitage of the Virgen de la Peña, and formed part of the defensive belt protecting the trade routes of Andalusian Saraqusta; it may have been built in the 10th or 11th century to watch over the crossing of the Ebro. Taken by Alfonso I el Batallador in 1119 and again in 1131, it returned to Muslim hands until its final reconquest in 1141 under Ramón Berenguer IV. The Cornel family governed the place from 1293, by grant of Jaime II de Aragón, and fortified it; in 1437, when the barony died out, it passed through various owners, among them Ramón de Espés and the Alagón family, until it was abandoned and fell into ruin around the 19th century.