Fuentes de Ebro

Converging valleys

Fuentes de Ebro, comprising fertile farmland under a protected designation of origin, is perched on a crag crowned by the church of San Miguel Arcángel, the cultural and artistic center of the town. The church’s exterior features a slender Neo-Gothic tower designed by architect Félix Navarro in the early 20th century to replace the original Mudejar tower, which had stability issues.

The interior draws the viewer in at first glance with its large, well-lit, elegant and richly decorated space, which understandably makes it one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in Aragon. The exterior brick walls of the original apse of this church, later converted into the entrance, still feature Mudejar tracery motifs, mainly interlacing designs that form diamond shapes. A visit to the Palace of the Condes de Fuentes, the Santa Barbara chapel and the Roman settlement of La Corona is also recommended.

Rodén

The district of Rodén is worth mentioning in its own right. Set atop a hill at an altitude of 300 meters, the ruins of the ancient Islamic village are a testimony to the devastation of the Spanish Civil War. It was destroyed and dismantled in 1937 and, after the war was over, a new town was built at the foot of the old one. The original town, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest, was built using alabaster as a construction material for the walls, held together with mortar and plastered over. These gypsum stones blend into the surrounding landscape, where their silhouettes can still be discerned, with houses and other buildings used for ancillary activities arranged in terraces along the north face and the church tower and the remains of the castle as the highlights. The tower is the best-preserved element, having been restored: it has a square floor plan constructed with alabaster ashlars, totally lacking in decorative elements. One room covered by a barrel vault remains standing in the castle, reinforced with a brick arch and open at both ends.