Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Calatorao

What to see and do in Calatorao (Valdejalón, Zaragoza): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

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Spain › Aragon › Zaragoza › Valdejalón › Calatorao

What to see and do in Calatorao

Calatorao
Village
Calatorao is a municipality in the comarca of Valdejalón, in the province of Zaragoza, situated in the valley of the Jalón river, at 366 metres above sea level. Its name comes from the Arabic qala'a turâb, 'fortress of earth', documented since 1128, shortly after Alfonso I the Battler reconquered the place; in 1213 Peter II granted the town to the chapter of Santa María la Mayor of Zaragoza. The Muslim population lived alongside the Christian one until its definitive expulsion in 1610. Along the flood plain of the Jalón, quarries of black limestone ('Calatorao stone') have been worked since Roman times. Its neoclassical church of San Bartolomé, from 1842, holds a 16th-century Santísimo Cristo attributed to Gabriel Yoly, and the castle-palace of Doña Urraca is preserved, with a crenellated 14th-century tower.
Castle of Doña Urraca
Monument
The castle of Doña Urraca, also called the castle-palace of the Priors, stands atop the town of Calatorao (Valdejalón, Zaragoza), next to the church of San Bartolomé. It preserves a crenellated tower from the 14th century, which gives it its original defensive appearance, and it was thoroughly renovated between 1504 and 1509 by the Mudéjar master craftsmen Zalema Xama and Mahoma Allabar, who gave it its present Aragonese Mudéjar Renaissance style with Gothic details, rectangular in plan and built of ashlar stone. It preserves practically intact the early 20th-century kitchen, two complete bathrooms, the restored coffered ceiling of the Hall of the Kings, the roof and the battlements.
Church of San Bartolomé de Calatorao
Monument
Church of San Bartolomé in Calatorao, neoclassical in style, built in 1842 with a single nave of six bays; it holds a 16th-century wooden Santísimo Cristo attributed to Gabriel Yoly.
Festivities of Calatorao
Activity
Patron saint festivities of Calatorao from 23 to 27 August in honour of San Bartolomé; until a few decades ago the Santo Cristo, a 16th-century sculpture attributed to Gabriel Yoly, was also celebrated from 13 to 17 September.
Landscape of the Jalón river plain in Calatorao
Nature
The landscape of the Jalón valley in Calatorao stretches beside the quarries of black limestone that have been used since Roman times in the palaces and churches of Aragón. The place, crown land after the reconquest, passed in 1213 to the Cabildo of the cathedral of Zaragoza, a lordship that lasted six centuries.
Festivities of invierno de Calatorao
Activity
Calatorao's winter festival is held beside the castillo de Doña Urraca, near the church of San Bartolomé, in a municipality whose fertile valley produces peaches, pears and apples between June and October.
Calatorao under the Chapter of Zaragoza
Historical milestone
After the reconquest, Calatorao was a place of royal jurisdiction until in 1213 it passed to the Chapter of the cathedral of Zaragoza, under whose seigneury it remained for six centuries. In 1495 thirty Christian families and thirty-eight Muslim families lived there together.
Black stone quarries of Calatorao
Historical milestone
The black limestone extracted in the quarries of Calatorao has been used since Roman times in palaces and churches of Aragon, and in the twentieth century sculptors and architects adopted it. It is still worked for paving, doorways and sculptural work.
Stone fruit of the Jalón plain
Food and drink
Between La Almunia and Calatorao the vega of the Jalón is occupied by peach, pear and apple trees that sustain a good part of the comarca's economy. The harvest is staggered from June to October and the fruit is packed in plants in the area itself.