Fuendetodos

Fuendetodos is a North Spanish municipality ( municipio ) in the province of Zaragoza in the autonomous community of Aragon. It is the birthplace of the born in 1746 painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes and is visited annually by about 25,000 tourists.

Location

Fuendetodos, approximately 55 km ( driving distance ) south of Zaragoza. The city of Calatayud is located about 80 kilometers to the west.

Demographics

In the 19th and early 20th centuries Fuendetodos always had between 500 and 700 inhabitants.

Economy

The little rain and poor community lived for centuries of agriculture ( dryland farming and sheep ); in the area, there were several limestone quarries. In winter, snow and ice have been ' harvested ' and stored in stone huts ( neveras or neverones ); there he stayed - depending on the climate - until late in the summer and was transported successively using carts to Zaragoza. Only in the last decades of the day and the holiday tourism have been added as an important employment and source of income of the inhabitants. Some wind turbines to generate electricity were installed.

History

About the history of the small town is virtually nothing is known. Since the 14th century it belonged to the manorial system ( señorio ) of Fernández de Heredia family, who were also known as the Condes de Fuentes ( " Fountain Count ").

Attractions

• The most important attraction of the place is the birthplace of Goya (Casa natal de Goya ) - a small but typical local stone house with two floors and a basement storage from the early 18th century, with only a few windows. The tiny rooms inside were a museum, but little original style remodeled.
• Another traditional house was just a few meters converted into a museum (Museo del Grabado ). Here copies of the famous Goya's graphic cycles can be seen: Los Caprichos, Disasters of War, La Tauromaquia and Los disparate.
• In place two Goya busts were erected in bronze: a cubist -inspired from 1978 stands on a pedestal just before his birthplace; the other from 1920, comes from the sculptor Julio Antonio and was commissioned and paid for by the painter Ignacio Zuloaga, a great admirer of Goya in order.
• The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción is originally from the 18th century. Here were some early works of Goya and a gilded altar by his father. During the Spanish Civil War, the church was destroyed together with its interior and then rebuilt in a different form. The baptismal font in which Goya received the baptism is still preserved.
• On the outskirts, a Natural History Museum ( Espacio de naturaleza Fuendeverde ) was established. Next door are the last remnants of a former castle.

• In the vicinity of the place, there were 22 former icehouse ( neverones ), only one of which ( la Culroya ) is well preserved and has been restored. There were two to three feet deep excavated simple round stone huts that are modeled after the shelters of shepherds in their above-ground part. The ' input ' sometimes was in the top of the hut, sometimes sideways. The ice was gouged out in blocks; these were pulled up on ladders and / or winches and gradually - transported to the wealthy and enacting its own small icehouse houses of Saragossa - by carts and usually on cool days.