By Ines Keane
Look up in Teruel and the towers do the talking. Brick, patterned, set with glazed ceramic. It is a style with a name, Mudéjar, and a World Heritage listing to go with it.
The city in brief
Teruel sits in Aragon, in eastern Spain, and is the capital of its province. Its population is given as 36,655 on 1 January 2025 in the infobox, while the article text gives 35,900 for 2022. We show both and do not choose. Our reading: at that height it is a high city, but none of our sources describes the winter weather, so we say nothing about it.
What UNESCO lists
UNESCO inscribed the Mudejar Architecture of Aragon in 1986, with boundary changes in 2001 and 2016. Its text says the style grew out of the conditions in Spain after the Reconquista, draws on Islamic tradition and reflects Gothic, and is marked by “an extremely refined and inventive use of brick and glazed tiles in architecture”. Materials named are brick, glazed ceramic tile, plaster and wood.
There are ten components in all. Four are in Teruel: the cathedral of Santa MarÃa de Mediavilla (its tower, roof and cimborio), the church and tower of San Pedro, and the church towers of San MartÃn and El Salvador. The rest are in Calatayud, Cervera de la Cañada, Tobed and Zaragoza.
A second site, worldheritagesite.org, says the first listing in 1986 was titled “Mudejar Architecture of Teruel” and that it was extended and renamed in 2001. It dates the buildings from the 12th to the 16th century. UNESCO’s own text runs from the 12th century to the early 17th.
Three towers, two sets of dates
The city council’s tourism site, which is promotional, says the San MartÃn tower was erected in 1316 and renovated in the 16th century, when a stone base was added. It calls the San Pedro tower, from the 13th century, the oldest Mudéjar tower in Teruel, and the Salvador tower the latest, traditionally thought contemporary with San MartÃn or slightly later.
Wikipedia gives the 14th century for the Salvador and San MartÃn towers, which fits the council’s 1316 for San MartÃn. It does not date the San Pedro tower, and says only that it resembles the cathedral’s.
The tourism site also points to the Staircase of the Óvalo, which has coloured ceramic decoration in the neo-Mudéjar style, and to glazed ceramic ornament on the San MartÃn tower.
The bull and the lovers
In the square known as Plaza del Torico stands a small bull on a tall column. Wikipedia names the square as Plaza Carlos Castell and says it is known by the bull’s name. The council calls the Torico the central monument and the square the “heart of the city”. Neither source gives a date or a sculptor, so we give none.
The story every visitor hears is that of Isabel de Segura, a wealthy woman, and Diego de Marcilla, a poor man who went off to the Crusades to earn his fortune so that he could marry her. The couple’s tomb is in the Mausoleo de los Amantes beside the church of San Pedro. The Fundación Amantes de Teruel (amantesdeteruel.es) is the body to ask about the legend and the visit. The council says the Amantes ensemble belongs to the church of San Pedro, built in the 14th century, and that the 14th-century cloister is one of four Mudéjar cloisters still preserved in Aragon and the place where the bodies rest. The council adds that the remains have always stayed in San Pedro.
So the date of the mausoleum differs by two centuries between the two pages. Our reading: they may be dating different parts of the complex, but neither page says so.
Two festivals
Both festivals are held in the city every year, in July and February. Exact days change, so check the Teruel city council site before you plan around them. The council’s agenda lists “La Vaquilla” in July and gives no detail. Neither source gives a programme, so we give none.
Dinosaurs on the edge of town
Wikipedia describes Dinópolis as a theme park and museum on the outskirts, centred on dinosaurs, with a life-size robotic Tyrannosaurus rex and three other museums in the area. The council calls it “the largest palaeontological museum in Europe”. That is a promotional claim and we did not test it.
What kind of sources these are
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre; a World Heritage listing site; the city council’s tourism website, which is promotional; and Wikipedia. No academic study of the towers was read.
What we left out
Prices, opening hours, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and ham or pottery claims, which Wikipedia mentions without detail.
Quick answers
Why is Teruel on the World Heritage list? According to UNESCO, four of the ten components of the Mudejar Architecture of Aragon are in Teruel: the cathedral, and the churches or towers of San Pedro, San MartÃn and El Salvador.
Who were the Lovers of Teruel? According to Wikipedia, Isabel de Segura and Diego de Marcilla, whose story ended tragically. Their mummified bodies are in the Mausoleo de los Amantes at the church of San Pedro.
When was Teruel founded? Wikipedia gives 1171. The council’s tourism site does not state a founding date.
Related on this site: roscon-de-reyes-bean-figurine-and-old-claims, tarta-de-santiago-igp-what-the-label-requires, spanish-card-deck-and-the-fournier-museum
Roam first. Shop later.