White gypsum stone
Belmonte de Gracián, perched on hills white with gypsum, is a place with deep Muslim traces. There we find the church of San Miguel, a temple with a polygonal apse of extraordinary Mudejar decoration.
It is worth looking up to see how the brick panels at the top form a grid of lozenges and crosses separated by friezes of angled bricks. On the south side stands the tower, also Mudejar, which is notable for its decoration of honey-coloured ceramic plates and shafts. The views are beautiful as you stroll through the corrals and threshing floors that surround this temple.
The town centre is located next to a hill that once crowned a Muslim castle. On its ruins now stands the church of Nuestra Señora del Castillo, a Baroque temple to which a bell tower in the Mudejar tradition was added, an exceptional lookout over the banks of the river Perejiles.
Belmonte de Gracián, perched on hills white with gypsum, is a place with deep Muslim traces. There we find the church of San Miguel, a temple with a polygonal apse of extraordinary Mudejar decoration.
It is worth looking up to see how the brick panels at the top form a grid of lozenges and crosses separated by friezes of angled bricks. On the south side stands the tower, also Mudejar, which is notable for its decoration of honey-coloured ceramic plates and shafts. The views are beautiful as you stroll through the corrals and threshing floors that surround this temple.
The town centre is located next to a hill that once crowned a Muslim castle. On its ruins now stands the church of Nuestra Señora del Castillo, a Baroque temple to which a bell tower in the Mudejar tradition was added, an exceptional lookout over the banks of the river Perejiles.
The ancient Secaisa
Belmonte de Gracián is a village of very ancient origin, formerly known as Secaisa, where the Muslims carried out fortification works, probably in the 10th century, and which passed into Christian hands at the beginning of the 12th century. The town stands on a steep hill “bello monte” (beautiful mountain) which gave it its name and was the birthplace of one of the most illustrious Spanish writers of the Golden Age: Baltasar Gracián. This municipality saw the birth on 8 January 1601 of the philosopher and writer who in 1985 gave his surname to the municipality, at that time known as Belmonte de Calatayud.
The layout of the town centre extends along the lower part of the hillside, between the road and its two churches: that of the Virgen del Castillo, the primitive parish church with its dome at the top of the village, and that of San Miguel, with an apse of extraordinary Mudejar decoration and a tower – also Mudejar – excellent for its glazed decoration. Above this church and at the foot of the gorge that crowns the other are the houses, the corrals, the threshing floors, the cellars and the abandoned haystacks: the kingdom of the aljez, a white and grey place, dreamlike and lost where there is only gypsum. A city that was carved out of the soft rocks of this material.
Belmonte de Gracián is a village of very ancient origin, formerly known as Secaisa, where the Muslims carried out fortification works, probably in the 10th century, and which passed into Christian hands at the beginning of the 12th century. The town stands on a steep hill “bello monte” (beautiful mountain) which gave it its name and was the birthplace of one of the most illustrious Spanish writers of the Golden Age: Baltasar Gracián. This municipality saw the birth on 8 January 1601 of the philosopher and writer who in 1985 gave his surname to the municipality, at that time known as Belmonte de Calatayud.
The layout of the town centre extends along the lower part of the hillside, between the road and its two churches: that of the Virgen del Castillo, the primitive parish church with its dome at the top of the village, and that of San Miguel, with an apse of extraordinary Mudejar decoration and a tower – also Mudejar – excellent for its glazed decoration. Above this church and at the foot of the gorge that crowns the other are the houses, the corrals, the threshing floors, the cellars and the abandoned haystacks: the kingdom of the aljez, a white and grey place, dreamlike and lost where there is only gypsum. A city that was carved out of the soft rocks of this material.
Territorio Mudéjar Network
The city council has been a founding member of Territorio Mudéjar since 13 September 2018.
More information
Town Hall 976 892 093
www.belmontedegracian.es
Association for the Integral Development of the Calatayud and Aranda Regions
galcar.es
VISIT BELMONTE DE GRACIÁN
976 633 296
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Tourism Comarca Comunidad de Calatayud
comarcacalatayud.com
Centro de Estudios Bilbilitanos
cebilbilitanos.com
Projects Territorio Mudéjar in Cariñena
Monuments | See the project
Pedagogy | See the project
Mudetrad project | See the project
Rural Identities | See the project
Mudéjar didactic, the guide | See the project
Preventive urbanism | See the project
“Circular” Family Walks | See the project
Mudéjar RGB | See the project
Valuing the muslim-friendly potential of Mudéjar Territory | See the project
