Aragon Guide

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  Amantes de Teruel festival

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  Plaza del Torico, Teruel

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  Teruel Cathedral entrance

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  San Martin Mudejar Tower

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  Teruel traditional bull run

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  Fiesta de los Amantes reenactors

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  Easter in Hijar

Teruel is often called the city of love (population 29.320), enveloped in the legend of the Romeo and Juliet style lovers, Diego and Isabel, whose spirits live amidst the Mudejar towers. The Moorish inhabitants of Teruel converted the city into the most important open museum of Mudejar art in the world. The Mudejar architecture is a Muslim artistic tradition developed in a Christian society.

The beautiful bell towers are the most significant display of Aragonese Mudejar art. Ceramics have also been used both structurally, as well as decoratively. The tradition has not been lost, and today we can see ceramic objects hundreds of years old in the Provincial Museum and also acquire popular ceramics made recently.

Our tour of Teruel starts out from the Paseo del Ovalo, where a bass-relief framed in a majestic staircase with Mudejar influence depicts the death of the famous lovers. We pass below the Torre del Salvador and can visit the interior of the tower if desired. A short stretch along the Calle Santiago takes us to the Torre de San Martin, both towers have been declared World Heritage Sites. The Calle de los Amantes leads to the Catedral, which boasts a Mudejar tower, a Mudejar Gothic coffered ceiling and a Plateresque altarpiece.

On the same square stands the Town Hall, and nearby, the Palacio de la Comunidad with the Provincial Museum (Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 2 pm and 4 pm to 7 pm; Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm) Via the Calle San Miguel, we arrive at the Viaduct, a curious 16th century work which connects the two sides of the divided city, with an aqueduct in the upper part From here we can observe remains of walls with various towers.

By the way of El Tozal, we reach the heart of the city, the Plaza del Torico. Perched on a tall column in the centre of the square surrounded by the Modernist-style houses is a small sculpture of a bull with a star, both symbols of Teruel city.

From here, some steps take us to the Church of san Pedro and beneath the Mudejar tower, we find the Mausoleum by the sculptor Juan de Avalos where the remains of the famous lovers are preserved.

The legend of the Amantes de Teruel (Lovers of Teruel) is a tragic love story from the 13th century. Penniless, Diego was rejected by Isabel’s family, though they granted him five years to prove his worth. He left Teruel to seek fame and fortune and returned exactly five years later to the day to find Isabel newly wed. He has forgotten to include the day of departure and his time had expired the day before. He managed to see Isabel and ask for a kiss but, as a proper bride, she denied him one.

Diego dropped dead from heartbreak. The next day at the funeral, a woman dressed in mourning approached the coffin, kissed the corpse and fell dead on the spot. It was Isabel, giving her dead lover the kiss she had denied him in life. The two, known forever after as "The Lovers of Teruel", were buried side by side in the Gothic church of San Pedro, where they still remain. They lie in effigy atop their tombs, hands outstretched toward each other.

In the yearly Amantes de Teruel festival, more than 100 amateur actors stage the legend of the impossible love between Isabel de Segura and Diego de Marcilla. During this performabce, Teruel’s old town in transformed into a giant stage. The Fiesta de los Amantes takes place each February when, amidst scenes of unseemly merriment, including a bull run, the lovers' tragedy is re-enacted.

The neighboring Plaza de San Juan boasts modern official buildings and the Casino of Teruel. On the roads towards Valencia, two new viaducts attest to the modern era and lead us to the Parque de los Fueros de Aragon and a modern Recinto Ferial (Exhibitions Centre).

During the Spanish Civil War, Teruel was captured by the Republicans on December 1937 and, fearing a counter-assault by the Nationalists, fighters from the International Brigades moved from Madrid to take up defensive positions in the surrounding Sierra Palomera where, despite night time temperatures of -20C, they withstood continual air attacks from German Condor Legion. The fierce fighting for control of Teruel occupied months, even years, and cost many thousands of lives.