The project Mudejar heritage and agricultural calendar aims to complement the current cultural programming in the territory through the design, creation and evaluation of events in which it takes on special importance. In this way, it allows not only direct contact with it for those who visit it, but also the interpretation of the agricultural landscape as an irreplaceable part of its identity. This also makes it possible to involve the local communities by highlighting the work on the land and the traditional agricultural product. With Aragonese Mudejar art as the common thread and the agricultural landscape and traditional agricultural activities as the thematic criterion for the interventions, the agricultural calendar is the backbone that allows the activities to be developed in an orderly manner and with a reasoned criterion.
In this first phase, the project has focused on diagnosing needs and interpreting the area of work with a methodology that includes participant observation to identify the linking possibilities and the spatial and temporal articulation between the agrarian and architectural heritage assets and the agrarian calendar. This has made it possible – conditioned by the pandemic that has restricted mobility and access to certain towns at specific times when it was sometimes imperative due to the agricultural calendar (flowering, harvesting, etc.) – to know and understand the possible variables of action depending on the areas worked on.
These areas, which are unique due to their differences in cultivation and the resulting landscape within the territory, have so far been determined in a remarkable way with regard to the valleys that make up Territorio Mudéjar by means of fieldwork trips and the elaboration of materials in situ in the Jalón
valley (Ricla, La Almunia de Doña Godina and Cabañas), the Ribota valley (Aniñón, Torralba de Ribota and Cervera de Cañada) and the Huerva valley (Villalba de Huerva, Aniñón, Torralba de Ribota and Cervera de Cañada), La Almunia de Doña Godina and Cabañas), the Ribota valley (Aniñón, Torralba de Ribota and Cervera de la Cañada) and the Huerva valley (Villar de los Navarros and Romanos). Finally, mention should be made of the Jalón-Jiloca valley with the towns of Maluenda, Morata de Jiloca and Villafeliche. Another of the analysed spaces, in this case from an exclusively documentary perspective as a way of partially resolving the shortcomings caused by the interruptions in the fieldwork mentioned above, was the Huerva Valley. In this way, the towns of Cosuenda and Longares were the main object of the bibliographic data collection.
On the basis of this work and the adjustment of future work, especially organised with a view to resolving possible mobility restrictions, the actions aimed at testing and evaluating the first en route projects planned, which are aimed at promoting public access, interpretation and enjoyment of the Mudejar cultural landscape, made up of values such as its architecture, the different areas of agricultural production and the seasonal processes inherent to human activity in them, will be derived from this work. Likewise, the dissemination through Territorio Mudéjar, aimed at a better understanding of the importance of the agricultural landscape as an asset and part of the community, has been rethought from the perspective of anticipation in order to achieve a greater presence in the networks than has been achieved so far due to the current socio-sanitary circumstances.
LINE OF RESEARCH: can be framed within the double line of research Territorio Mudéjar and cultural landscape and the management of cultural heritage.
THE AUTHORS:
- Juan Ignacio Santos Rodríguez, coordinator of the project, has a PhD in Art
History and is a specialist in cultural management. - Elvira del Pilar Domínguez Castro has a degree in Art History and is an
independent cultural manager.