Puntos de Interés
Municipality
Peracense
The municipality of Peracense is in the Jiloca District, 52 km from Teruel. According to experts, the first settlers in these these lands were of Iberian origin. This is evidence by some archaeological sites discovered in this area, as in the case of El Palomar. Shards of pottery have also appeared within the village’s well-known castle, which would provide evidence of the presence of a settlement prior to the construction of the castle.
Despite this, there is no record of this village until it was mentioned in the Cartulary of Aliaga in 1220, which contains the transcriptions of various documents concerning the creation of the Order of the Temple in this village.
Although Peracense belonged to the Urrea family, they sold it to the Comunidad de Aldeas de Daroca in 1336, and it became part of the Río Jiloca sesma. It would have to wait until 1834 before it was established as a local council area within the judicial district of Albarracín, and then of the Teruel judicial district in 1965.
Without a doubt, there are three heritage elements worth highlighting in Peracense: the castle, the church of San Pedro and the Town Hall. We shall begin with the fortress since it is one of the most important and best-preserved in Aragon. It marked a strategic point between two of the most important settlements in medieval Aragon: Daroca and Teruel, and it also served as a defensive bastion against the Kingdom of Castile. For its part, the church of San Pedro, built in 1740, has a basilica floor plan and three naves. It was built in masonry and ashlars and features an imposing tower with two levels. Finally, the building used as the Town Hall, whose ground floor still preserves the old slab with its two segmental arches in ashlar.
The village’s economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, focusing on growing wheat and barley, as well sheep farming.
The villagers hold the festivities of San Blas on 3 February, as well as those of San Ginés and the Virgen de la Villeta, on 25 and 26 August, respectively.
