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ROUTES BY THE SOMONTANO
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Barbastro the heart of Somontano
Barbastro, since it was founded in the 10th century, has taken the role of the capital of Somontano, or Barbitanya, as it was known in Moorish times.

Since then, its geographical location turned it into the administrative capital with commercial vocation, a role which it has maintained up to the present day.

This is a journey through our history, of our personages and the traces they left in our city.
The ascension to the Monastery of The Pueyo, viewpoint unequal of the whole Somontano, neither it can miss in the visit Barbastro.

In the capital of the Vero it can also take the path GR 45, for which is possible to accede, on foot or in bicycle, to the towns of Burceat and Cregenzán.
1
The collection of historical building of San Julián and Santa Lucía

This monumental collection of buildings constitutes the doorway to Somontano.

In the rooms of the old hospital one finds the Tourist Office, a starting point for information, The D.O. Somontano Wine Office and the local products shop.

San Julián and Santa Lucía Gothic church was built in 15th century. It was later restored and used as the Somontano Interpretation Centre..
Foto: Ignacio Pardinilla
2
A cathedral complex

La Catedral de la Asunción (Catedral of the Asuncion) is the most emblematic monument of the city. The ambitious construction at the beginning of the 14th century was a city project, financed by the local council. The end result was a temple of great dimensions with a lounge floor, where the three naves are the same height, giving rise to a open, balanced, majestic interior space.

The great altarpiece emphasizes the spectacular alabaster base, work of Damián Forment and his pupil Juan de Liceire.

From the 16th century, the temple was enriched with new chapels in clearly Baroque style from the 17th century.

The tower was raised to the north of the head of the cathedral, perhaps because the minaret of the mosque was reused as a belfry when, after the Christian conquest, it was consecrated to cathedral. Around the beginning of the 14th century the minaret was knocked down and substituted by a medieval tower (the walls of the two lower sections are more than two metres wide). At the beginning of the 17th century another section was added more in the way of a counter-tower or a interior tower with brick on the interior and stone on the exterior.

The reconstruction of the spire during the 18th century provided its final appearance.

The sound of its bells set off the city life, but apart from civil and religious functions, it was used as a watchtower and as a refuge on various occasions.

Within the Cathedral complex one finds the Diocesan Museum, which apart from having an interesting collection of gold articles and fabrics, it brings together precious sculpture works and medieval paintings.

The excavations carried out in the grounds of the cathedral (Archaeological Garden) have brought to light remains of the mosque (10th century), the previous church, the Gothic cloister, the abbey and the 18th century cemetery.

A few metres from the cathedral one finds the Episcopal Palace. When in 1571, after various years of litigation, Barbastro recovered its position as Episcopal See, the city promised to provide the bishops with a residence appropriate to their position. For this, it bought a block of buildings, and between 1598 and 1600 it carried out the works of adaptation of the four acquired houses.

From the outside, it genuinely took the shape of an Aragonese palace. The tower in the flank is a reminiscence of fortified rural residences, a sign of power which its owners in the city houses could not do without.

The current aspect of the palace, its facade and its two viewpoints, correspond to alterations carried out in the 19th century.
Foto: CEDER Somontano
3
Constitution Square: three emblematic buildings

At the end of the square, in the centre, one finds the City Council. The original Town Hall was built at the end of the 15th century under the orders of the Moor Farag de Gali, master builder of King Ferdinand The Catholic. The present building, a product of the deep transformation which it went through in 1950, features a small eaves, open large windows on the upper floor and a balcony covered with a forge which opens out to the noble floor.

Originally in the place that is occupied by the House of the Hermanitas of the Helpless Elders, stood the ancestral home of the Pueyo family. Later it became the seat of the "Casino of Friendship", one of the two which were found in Barbastro in the 19th century. Finally, that building, which has now ceases to exist, hosted the first house of the Hermanitas, an order founded in Barbastro in 1873 by Saint Teresa de Jornet and by the canon and historian of the city, Saturnino López Novoa.

The square is closed by the college of the Escolapios, the first (1677) to be had by the Escolapios in Spain, which is still active to this day. The church, of Jesuitical typology, has a Latin cross ground plan, a cupola on a crosspiece and a very high longitudinal nave which opens out to chapels where the galleries are located. Capitals, leaning pilasters, mouldings and cornices remit the decorative language of the most classical baroque style. Its interior contains paintings by the artist from Barbastro Francisco Zueras.

On the wall which face out onto Argensola Street one can see a coarse coat of arms: a reminder that the City of Barbastro donated this land (previously a street) to erect the church there.
Foto: Ignacio Pardinilla
4
Noble Renaissance houses

From the Church of the Escolapios one gains access to the old Main Street, which leads us to the Renaissance period. The building known as Latorre House or "Zapatillas House" is the location for the National Open University of Education in Barbastro. Its brick facade, arch galleries and carved-wood eaves remit the type of building that was common in the 16th century in Aragonese cities amongst the middle class.

The carved-wood eaves of the Argensola Palace are one of most monumental of its class for the modelling effect of its splendid classic and Renaissance decoration. The walls of the palace have seen the birth of famous Barbastrens such as General Ricardos, one of the great European military men from the 18th century, or the poets Lupercio and Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola, the finest representatives of classical poetry of the era, between the 16th and the 17th century.

Foto: Ignacio Pardinilla
5
The Market Square

From its origins, this square has congregated numerous traders and market gardeners, however unlike other Spanish squares it did not host any building of power.

Buy and sell,... this is the role of the Market Square in a city with specialized squares which already had a City Council Square and another for the Cathedral, an expression of civil and religious power.

At one end one finds Santa Ana Chapel (16th and 19th century). Next to the chapel the 'Almudi' (a public warehouse used for the buying and selling of wheat and other grains) which often caused dust to cover the church.

The oldest houses with low porches and with a marked popular air, make up a compact, even front. Time and the changes in taste which each era brought with it have transformed the scene of the daily life of the people of Barbastro.

In 1926, the green light was given to a project which contemplated the construction of historical buildings such as the San Pedro Warehouses or Caloge House (neomudejar). Finally in 1975 the Entrearcos Cultural Centre was built on the land of the ancestral home of San José María Escribá de Balaguer. Inspired in traditional Aragonese style, it was built based on carved stone, open brick, reinforced concrete lintels and old Arabic tiles.

Foto: Ignacio Pardinilla
6
The river, bridges and fountains

Continuing along Argensola Street we reach the river. The right bank of the Vero was protected by strong walls on which houses were later built. These considerably high walls formed a compact, solid front. The access to Barbastro from left bank was only possible by the bridges which connected with the gateways to the city.

Portillo Bridge was rebuilt in the 19th century following the same lines as the original. The brick bridge with its three spans was built around 1600 and was bombed during the last Civil War.

San Francisco Bridge as well as the gateway which it led to, received its name from the Franciscan monastery which had been established around the 13th century.

On the left bank of the Vero there were three public fountains which gave name to the street Arrabal which leads to them. The Azud and Vivero fountains disappeared with the canalization of the river. The San Francisco fountain, one of the finest in Aragon still exists. Its construction was commissioned by the City Council in 1553 in a place where the water known as "Fuente de los Frayles" reached. The sculptor Maese Jaques de Guertch designed the Renaissance layout and the stonemason Juan de Araçil. It was completed in only 5 months with very white stone from the nearby Fonz quarries.


Foto: Ignacio Pardinilla
7
San Francisco

You are now in Arrabal, an area of the city which used to be outside the first walled enclosure of the medina, and began to be developed in the 9th century, during the Islamic era. In San Antonio Square, adjacent to San Francisco Church, one finds the remains - not open to visitors at the moment - of some public baths (10 century) which had various vaulted rooms and lion-head fountains.

In this area of the city (Arrabal) the San Francisco Monastery was founded between the 13th and 14th centuries, coinciding with the expansion period of the mendicant orders. In San Antonio Square one can visit the grounds of the old cloister and the layout of its walls with the small windows of the cells, today transformed into private houses.

Between the 16th and 17th centuries the medieval church was transformed and the large nave was covered with star-shaped vaults. During the 17th century new chapels were added to it such as the Claramunt with mural paintings and a beautiful glazed tile plinth from Muel (Saragossa). By taking a stairway one descends into an arched crypt. There one finds a drawn pew divided into fifteen seats of honour crafted in stone. On this pew hung the bodies of the deceased; the walls of the crypt were used to support the corpses.

Some time after the construction of the crypt the goodness of the burial system was questioned and some of the seats of honour were lowered to hang wooden coffins above the pew.

A small chapel covered with beautifully designed star-shaped vaults is dedicated to Ceferino Giménez Malla, "el Pelé", an honest gypsy mule trader, beatified in 1997 by Pope John Paul.

Foto: Ignacio Pardinilla
 
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