Puntos de Interés
Municipality
Hortezuela
Hortezuela is a small town in the municipality of Berlanga de Duero, in the province of Soria.
The village was established near the convent of the Caballeros Hospitalarios. Of the convent, only the church of San Juan Bautista, also known as San Juan de Jerusalén or San Juan de Acre, has survived to the present day. This is a small religious building whose walls still conserve the cross of the order. The church is home to several cultural artefacts, including a Romanesque baptismal font with a cylindrical cup, decorated with semicircular arches.
During its prime, the estate was a well-known and highly sought-after property, with numerous noble families also owning properties in the area. This is the case of the Counts of González de Castejón de Ágreda, who owned the Batán estate here, which included a small private forest and a palace. Conversely, the Marquises of Berlanga owned another estate with a palace known as "La Choza", which was surrounded by an extensive forest with great hunting resources. However, the palace was destroyed by the French in 1811, and the original woodland was subsequently lost to make way for the pine forest that was planted later.
It is known that the San Juanistas were the owners of the chapel of San Roque. However, the location of this chapel is currently unknown.
Until the 1970s, the village festivities were held on the feast day of St. John the Baptist, which fell on 24 June.