Other corners
Relax and get to know Teruel
Whether inside the city or outside the walls, Teruel has a series of places that invite you to walk relaxed.
Let's start by getting to know the Oval area. Starting from the Plaza de San Juan, in whose large square we can admire the emblematic architecture of the Casino or the old Bank of Spain, we will leave through the street of Portal de Valencia that will take us outside the old walled perimeter. On our right, a wide roundabout and in front, a couple of viaducts that communicate with the widening. The oldest, pioneer in its time, has an impressive arch and invites photography. Crossing the Glorieta or bordering it you reach the Paseo del Óvalo. From its clear part of buildings you can see the open landscape of the west of the city and the fertile plain of the Turia.
Soon you discover the neo-Mudejar staircase that invites you to go down
and discover the relief of the Lovers in their first landing. At the
Right downstairs, a restored former convent houses the headquarters
of the Government of Aragon in Teruel. In the background, the Park of the Botanists
Turolenses and the railway station. The slope of the Institute,
taken calmly, it will take us back to the Oval. If we have the walk
Made in the morning, highly recommended in summer, we can take the opportunity to sit on any of its terraces to have an aperitif.
A little longer, although not excessively, is the walk that takes us to the area of the convent of the Franciscans. We can start starting from the Oval, which we already know, and go down San Francisco Street to the Beehive. Opposite, standing on the bridge that crosses the Turia, we will make contact with the banks of the river and its fertile plain. If we continue along Zaragoza Avenue we will immediately reach the convent of the Franciscans.
For the most walkers it is advisable to extend the walk five hundred meters and know on the route the Casita de la Farmacia, a large industrial fireplace with good neo-Mudejar decoration at its base and one of the jewels of the architecture of the early twentieth century, such as the hermitage of the Virgen del Carmen. Retracing our steps, we find the convent of the Franciscans with a beautiful Gothic church located in the middle of a pedestrian square that has the old fountain and trough of Los Chorros. If we look for the street Under the Arches, we will be surprised by the old palace of the Counts of Parcent.
A third walk, this one more urban, invites us to know the upper part of the city in which the Jewish quarter is located. On this occasion we can start from the Plaza del Torico, the Plaza par excellence of the city. Going up Calle del Tozal, whose name already indicates that it led us to the top, we will reach the end and turn towards Muñoz Degraín Street. We are entering the area of the oldest and most complex urban layout. Corner with Ainsas Street, we are surprised by a beautiful palace house very well preserved. We can go up this street where an old mansion is preserved and reach the Plaza de la Judería. To his left was the old Alcázar.
From here, the tour invites you to explore the narrow streets of the area. A suggestion may be to go down Bartolomé Esteban, also known as Calle de las Piedras, and at the height of Calle del Caracol we find the old cloister of San Pedro. Taking the right, towards the slope of San Pedro, we will contemplate the exterior of the apse of the church and a magnificent house of the Teruel bourgeoisie of the late nineteenth century. Entering it through Muñoz Degraín street is accessed, through a commercial establishment, a cistern of the sixteenth century that can be visited.
The set of three cisterns in Teruel corresponds to the traditional construction characteristics of the Romans.
In 1374, King Pedro IV "the Ceremonious" ordered the construction of three public cisterns, whose function was to collect water from the rain. They were to be built in a geostrategic location to take advantage of the uneven terrain in the highest part of the interior of the wall and to channel the greatest number of litres of water into the cisterns.
The place chosen for the construction of the cisterns would be the Plaza del Mercado, known today as the Plaza del Torico; advantage would be taken of the unevenness of the terrain between the highest part of the muela (the area of the Jewish quarter) and the neutral area around the Plaza del Mercado, to channel the water from the different springs that converge at this point to the subsoil of the square.
The documentation consulted refers to the construction of three cisterns, two of them located in the Aljibe Fondero and Aljibe Somero and a third which archaeological tests have not yet been able to detect.
Los Arcos Aqueduct
Located in the northern part of the historic center of Teruel next to the rehabilitated part of the Wall of Teruel we find one of the most important engineering works of the Spanish Renaissance.
Its construction was due to the need to improve the water supply to the city of Teruel, which until then depended on the large cisterns built in the last quarter of the fourteenth century in the current Carlos Castel square and several smaller wells and cisterns distributed throughout other parts of the urban area. The works of the Traída began in 1537, capturing the water of the Peña del Macho, a fountain located halfway between Teruel and Valdecebro; But they soon had to be abandoned due to their high economic cost.
To save the ravine that delimited the Northeast of the City, the last great orographic obstacle, Bedel designed Los Arcos, a structure that gives its name to the entire Traída. This emblematic construction is of clear classical inspiration and masterfully combines its utilitarian character (aqueduct and viaduct) with the representative. It consists of two levels, the upper one with six arches and the lower one with two.
Like other monuments in the city, it was greatly affected by the effects of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), with some of the arches collapsing. It would be restored at the end of the war.
Viaduct and Monument to La Vaquilla
The Old or Fernando Hué viaduct in Teruel was designed and built in 1929 by the engineer Fernando Hué to facilitate the urban expansion of Teruel towards the south, where the Ensanche is currently located, and its communication with the lands of Valencia. Its large central arch of reinforced concrete (which was the Spanish record span at the time) and the general aesthetics of a bridge that was very close at the time and is now fully integrated into the city.
Next to it is the work created by the sculptor José Gonzalvo from Rubielos de Mora. It is made of welded sheet iron and consists of three main figures that are symbols of the city of Teruel: the angel, the bull and the peñista. Above the sculpture is a star, the founding icon of the capital. The sculpture rests on a stone pedestal and on its sides there are four engraved scroll-shaped plaques.
This monument represents the traditional festival of the Vaquilla del Ángel de Teruel, which has its roots in 31 August 1679 and is celebrated on the second Sunday after San Pedro and the closest Sunday to San Cristóbal.
First expansion
There have always been constructions outside the city on the road that led to Sagunto, inaugurated in the early years of the 19th century. To reach these dwellings and the Valencian town, it was necessary to descend a slope of about 6-7%.
To improve the connection between the old Teruel and the plateau, the construction of the Fernando Hué Bridge was proposed and approved at the beginning of the 20th century. Although the original purpose of the bridge was simply to improve the route to Sagunto, it was known that a work of such magnitude (consisting of 5 reinforced concrete arches) would make Teruel a more attractive city to live in. Therefore, in 1928, a year before the bridge was completed, the City Council approved an urban plan for the Pinilla area, which included the first widening of the city.
As a result of the new infrastructure, Teruel began to expand rapidly in the area, and today, the majority of its population resides there.
KISSING CORNER
This is a space located in the Fernando Hué park in the Ensanche district of Teruel. Designed by the Teruel architect Javier Hernandez, the bench-shaped space combines, in its formal structure, a design of a heart in Corten steel with a green Mudejar star. Its location in the gardens of the park allows couples visiting the city to take a photo that will be an unforgettable memory, observe the skyline with the Mudejar towers, one of the best views of the city and the Seminary from the viewpoint located in the surroundings.
The Potters of Teruel
Located in the northeast of the city the Alfares de los Hermanos Górriz a tourist, cultural and educational space, a living space for the city. It houses the Clay Interpretation Center, a project derived from the European Life+ program for the recovery of the natural area of Las Arcillas. Visitors can find in one of the rooms of these potteries a model of the Parque de las Arcillas before the Life+ performance.
These ancient potters, which were declared in 2005 Asset of Catalogued Interest of the Aragonese Cultural Heritage, propose to promote the dissemination and enjoyment of the artistic, architectural and natural heritage related to clay, as well as to value the landscape of Las Arcillas and the pottery facilities as the origin and process of our much valued Mudejar. Its recent rehabilitation in 2021 opens the door for people who visit us to know what a potter's enclosure was like and what his day to day work was like. The Potters of the Górriz Brothers not only constitute A new tourist center of relevance in the capital, also educational activities with schoolchildren from the city, the rest of the province and other nearby provinces, artistic activities in collaboration with the Faculty of Fine Arts and the School of Art, and cultural activities promoted by the Department of Culture.
Open air museum in San Julián
The Open Air Museum was born in 2010, as a neighbourhood initiative and with a clear protest against the delays caused by the remodelling of the old San José Asylum, which today houses the San Julián Social Centre.
There are currently more than 35 murals around the neighbourhood, painted by local and international artists such as Hugo Casanova, Eleman, Muere, Ericuxo, Mr. Chat, Mr. Chapu, Isaac Mahow, Mister Trazo, Toni Espinar, between 2010 and 2018, which offer both locals and tourists a new vision of the neighbourhood, showing part of its history and tradition.
THE NATURE THAT SURROUNDS US
Although the surroundings of the city lend themselves to routes of scenic or cultural interest, such as the Fuentes de la Salud or the Peña del Macho, it is interesting to make an excursion in which both things combine perfectly. This is the visit to the archaeological site of Alto Chacón, also known as the Iberian city. Located on the edge of La Muela, about three kilometers from the urban center, the place is accessed by crossing the Turia and going up through the Jorgito neighborhood to the plain of La Muela, in the west of the city. It can be reached by car by a dirt road that goes to the right as soon as you pass the antenna of the station.
Lovers of archaeology will find, in a privileged place, a site of the first century before our Era, of Celtiberian origin. It is conditioned and with posters that facilitate its interpretation. From its strategic enclave it dominates with the view a wide territory that a small map will help us to recognize. Although you can do the excursion at any time of the year, spring and autumn, or summer outside the central hours, are the most recommended times for your visit.