Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in Albatana

What to see and do in Albatana (Campos de Hellín, Albacete): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

When to go to Albatana: festival calendar

January: Festivities of San Ildefonso (January 23)
March: Holy Week of Albatana (Marzo o abril, Semana Santa)

How far each place is from the centre of Albatana

Iberian Site of El Castellón 1.6 km
Aqueduct of Albatana 2.5 km

Towns near Albatana

What to see in Ontur 5.5 km · 11 places
What to see in Tobarra 14 km · 26 places
What to see in Fuente-Álamo 16 km · 11 places
What to see in Hellín 17 km · 38 places
What to see in Jumilla 20 km · 50 places
What to see in Pétrola 29 km · 7 places
What to see in Montealegre del Castillo 30 km · 10 places

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Albacete › Campos de Hellín › Albatana

What to see and do in Albatana

Albatana
Village
Albatana is a municipality of Campos de Hellín, in Albacete, separated from Ontur in 1912 and bordering Jumilla, in Murcia; it has 679 inhabitants, and the Iberian lynx, a protected species, has established itself in its territory, with more than nine specimens. One kilometre from the town is the Iberian archaeological site of El Castellón, from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC. The territory belonged to the Taifa of Murcia until passing to Castile in 1243, formed part of the señorío of Caudete and the marquisate of Villena, and in the 16th century was sold, together with Ontur, to the nobleman Pedro Zambrana y Fajardo. Its most notable work is an 18th-century stone aqueduct, some 1,600 metres long with 61 arches, a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1990, and the Neoclassical church of San Ildefonso presides over the square. It lives on olive groves and vineyards, with wines of the DO Jumilla.
Aqueduct of Albatana
Monument
Aqueduct declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1990, with a course of about 1,600 metres and 61 arches; the present one, from the 19th century, replaced an earlier 18th-century aqueduct whose masonry remains, known as the Acueducto Viejo, are still preserved. It runs between the Fuente de Albatana and the Molino de Arriba, two kilometres from the town centre, and was used to carry water with the least possible loss of level across very flat terrain: first through a trench and then, for most of its length, by means of a channel raised on a wall. The mill it supplied dates back to the 18th-century repopulation by the marquises of Espinardo, lords of Ontur, Albatana and Agramón, and it is an outstanding work of hydraulic engineering in the province of Albacete.
Church of San Ildefonso
Monument
A single-nave neoclassical church, with a lintelled doorway and an attached bell tower, presiding over the town hall square. It is dedicated to the patron saint of the town.
Iberian Site of El Castellón
Nature
The Iberian site of El Castellón, a settlement occupied between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC in the municipal area of Albatana, lies one kilometre from the town. It is the oldest evidence of settlement in the municipality and was studied by the researcher Luisa Soria Combadiera in her work El horizonte ibérico del Castellón. Today the site is reduced to a fossil stone quarry.
Festivities of San Ildefonso
Activity
Patronal festivals of Albatana (Albacete) in honour of San Ildefonso, with a procession and popular events in the depths of winter. San Ildefonso is celebrated on 23 January, and the following day, 24 January, the Virgin of Peace, with a flower offering and typical dances.
Holy Week of Albatana
Activity
Celebration of the Passion of Christ in Albatana, with processions from the Friday of Sorrows to Easter Sunday. On Holy Wednesday, El Prendimiento, a re-enactment of the arrest of Christ performed by local residents, is staged at the municipal theatre. On Holy Thursday the tamborada begins at night, culminating on Good Friday after the procession of the Calvary, the high point of Albatana's Holy Week.
The independence of Albatana
Curiosity
Albatana split from Ontur and was constituted as an independent municipality on 1 August 1912. Before that date its history had been tied to neighbouring Ontur since the Middle Ages.
Olive, vine and the Jumilla Designation of Origin
Curiosity
The economy of Albatana rests on olive groves and vineyards, and its wines come under the DO Jumilla. It is one of the small Albacete municipalities included in that designation.
El fin del mayorazgo sobre Ontur y Albatana
Historical milestone
After long lawsuits and negotiations, the residents managed that day to free their lands from the seigneurial dominion of the mayorazgo constituted in the sixteenth century, closing more than three hundred years of dependence on a single proprietary house.
Las gachas de mataero
Food and drink
A dish of the pig-slaughter days in these villages: grass-pea flour worked with pork jowl and liver and seasoned with paprika and clove until it forms a thick paste that is eaten straight from the pan, dipping bread into it.