Tower and apse of the church of La Asunción de Nuestra Señora, Terrer

Plaza Bajo el Olmo, 1, 50293 Terrer, Zaragoza

CURRENT PROTECTION STATUS: ACI

TYPE OF ASSET: Property

CATEGORY: Religious

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Mudejar and Baroque

CONSTRUCTION DATE:

The church was constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Mudejar tower has been dated to c. 1400.

In the 18th century, the church was remodeled in the Baroque style, the height of the bell tower was raised and the tower spire was added.
As a result of the thorough transformation rendered in the Baroque era, the only elements of the original Mudejar construction that remain are the tower and part of the polygonal apse, which features arches in the Islamic tradition and painted brick decoration in the interior, with motifs that are linked to those of the churches of Tobed, Cervera de la Cañada and Torralba de Ribota.

The tower, which dates from the early 15th century, was erected adjacent to the south side of the east end of the present-day parish church. It stands, sturdy and lavishly decorated, overlooking canals and fields. There may be ties to the patronage of Benedict XIII, Papa Luna, related to this tower.

It has a square floor plan and the interior is divided into two levels: the lower level has a Hispano-Muslim structure with an outer tower wrapped around a central buttress. The upper level is hollow, intended to house the belfry. The tower is topped by a spire with a mixtilinear outline from the Baroque era.

All the ornamentation is concentrated in the lower section of the exterior, featuring protruding brick motifs, and lacking only the ceramic detail work (there is documentary evidence proving that it did exist at some point). In this case, domestic ceramic dishes were reused to provide the ornamentation.

Interventions

Restoration, 20th to 21st century

Projects and interventions

Projects and interventions, and the driving forces behind them, define the history of monumental buildings and how they are perceived.

Declarations

Declaration, 21st century

On December 14, 2001, the 25th Official Session of the World Heritage Committee held in Helsinki (Finland) resolved to recognize and declare the Mudejar architecture of Aragon as World Heritage.

On August 14, 2002, the Department of Culture and Tourism Order dated July 22, 2002 was published in the Official Gazette of Aragon, declaring the tower and apse of the church of La Asunción de Nuestra Señora in Terrer, in the province of Zaragoza, a Listed Asset of Aragonese Cultural Heritage.

Bibliography

BORRÁS GUALIS, G.M. Arte Mudéjar Aragonés, CAMPZAR y Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos Técnicos y Aparejadores de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 1985.

SANMIGUEL MATEO, A. Torres de ascendencia islámica en las comarcas de Calatayud y Daroca. Aragón (España). Estructuras, decoración y relaciones con otras torres islámicas de Oriente y Occidente, Centro de Estudios Bilibilitanos (Institución Fernando el Católico), Calatayud, 1998, pp. 292-295.

SANMIGUEL MATEO, AGUSTÍN. “El arte mudéjar”, en Comarca de la Comunidad de Calatayud, Colección Territorio 20, Zaragoza, 2005.

TRASOBARES RUIZ, VICTORIA E., RUIZ BAZÁN, IRENE., “Territorio Mudéjar. Las torres, técnica y creatividad”, La magia de viajar por Aragón, número 126, julio – agosto 2021, pp. 16-23.  

Appendixes

Visit Terrer

City Hall: 976 898 002

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
www.turismodezaragoza.es

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