Plank Road: Teruel

We had a nice drive from Tortosa to Teruel via the northern route up the Ebro valley and then west and finally a bit south to Teruel. Before leaving Catalunya, we stopped in at Gandesa to have a quick look at the Moderniste Bodega Cooperativa building. We didn’t have time to take a tour of the winery, so we just popped in and took a few photos of the exterior and the reception area with the Catalan vaulting.

On the drive to Teruel, the landscape changes often, going from a grape growing region in western Catalunya to olive trees and to cereal crops on more open country near Teruel, Aragon. Our interest here is primarily the Mudejar architecture, firstly a tiny bit of history regarding Mudejar.

In 1236, Cordoba, the seat of Islamic rule in Spain for more than five centuries, the once intellectual and cultural centre of Islamic Spain, fell to the king of Castile. Sevilla was conquered in 1248 and every Muslim citizen of Sevilla was forced to leave.

In the twelfth and thirteen centuries, the Christian rulers treated the Muslims with both tolerance and persecution. To secure the conquered territory, the Christians encouraged settlers from the north, there was also migration from France and land was given to religious orders. In some areas, the Muslim population was encouraged to stay, they are referred to as Mudejars - from Arabic, al-mudajjar ‘persons allowed to remain.’ This was the case in rural Valencia but not in Castile. Today, Mudejar refers to the culture of Muslims who lived under Christian rule, the beautiful architecture of the Muslim craftsmen is also referred to as Mudejar.

Granada fell to the Christian kings, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, in 1492. The Muslim population was subjected to mass baptisms and automatically became Christians, this was supported by Queen Isabella, a religious zealot. Ferdinand was more lenient and did not support the policy, his grandson and successor, Charles V swore not to force conversion or expel Muslims. By 1525, he reneged on his word and forced conversion to Christianity. Between 1609 and 1614, the Muslims were expelled from Spain by Philip III, nine centuries after their initial invasion.

Teruel was already an ancient city when the Muslims occupied it in the eighth century. Many Muslims remained after the Christian reconquest of the city in 1171 by Alfonso II, King of Aragon. The Christian churches that began to be built by local Mudejar artisans continued to demonstrate the architectural style of Islamic Spain, but were a fusion of Moorish and Christian architectural traditions. The bell towers were of a structure and decoration similar to a Moorish minaret which are featured in mosque architecture, but they also included gothic or baroque ornamentation.

After checking into our apartment we went for a walk around town. Teruel has a really nice historic centre with large plazas. We meandered around looking at all of the Mudejar bell towers, which are wonderful. The brick work is extraordinary and the brick is very richly coloured, especially in full sunlight. In shade the colour is quite different and shadows play across the brick. The contrasting colours of the ceramic ornamentation is really striking, the towers almost seem like a tapestry in brick and ceramic.

Bodega Cooperativa