Ujué

Ujué is a North Spanish municipality in the autonomous community of Navarre. The old center was classified as a cultural ( Bien de Interès Cultural ) in the category Conjunto histórico - artístico.

Location

Ujué is located on the southern edge of the Pyrenees at an altitude of about 815 meters above sea level. inst. Proximity to Pamplona is just under 70 km ( driving distance ) in a northwesterly direction. Both Pamplona and the almost 40 kilometers east location neighboring Sangüesa lie on the Camino.

Demographics

By 1960, the population was always more than a thousand people. The strong population decline is due to the mechanization of agriculture and the migration of many young people in the cities - in 2003, about half the population of Ujué was about 60 years old.

Economy

Agriculture has traditionally been the most important economic factor. Since many houses were empty because of the exodus, the rental of apartments ( casas rurales ) as an important source of income since the 1980s, the tourism in the form added.

History

From pre-Roman, Roman, Visigothic and Islamic periods there are hardly any discoveries; an Arab chronicler mentions a fortress by the name of Santa María as part of Pamplona upstream ring of fortified towns. In medieval documents from the 9th century, the name Santa María de Uxua emerges. A fortification is first attested in the 11th century - a time when King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon (r. 1063-1098 ) and Navarre (ruled 1076-1098 ) was. He is also the founder and / or founder of the first church, which was, however, renewed under Charles II of Navarre in the Gothic style. A - allegedly by a priest discovered in a cave - Madonna statue was already at this time of pilgrims, including King Charles III. of Navarre, worshiped. After the conquest of the southern part of the Kingdom of Navarre by Ferdinand of Aragon in 1512 Ujué lost any strategic importance and as a result a significant part of its inhabitants.

Attractions

• The main attraction of Ujué is the medieval-like appearance, with its narrow streets and a small square in the center.
• The oversized acting - Romanesque, and later remodeled in Gothic style forms and vice benene with a wall - Santa María Church dates from the 11th and 14th centuries. This wall, which almost windowless lower half of the building, the representative, but also kind of castle-like west facade with a kind of military or security transition and the two towers with their embattled platforms testify clearly the character of a fortified church. In contrast, the Gothic tympanum of the west facade of the 14th century is a representation of the Adoration of the Magi, the the - contained in the tip - star are followed; lintel below you will find a Last Supper with the squatting in front of the table Judas Iscariot. The spacious, but single-nave Gothic interior of the western part contrasts with the three apses of the Eastern Roman part. Meanwhile, with double columns and masonry versehenene technically perfectly designed central apse houses the medieval and revered in ancient times Statue of a crowned Madonna with the blessing -giving and also winning baby Jesus ( sedes sapientiae ). The baroque pulpit shows the four evangelists; below the west gallery is decorated with an archaic -looking figures Romanesque font.
• The late Romanesque hermitage ( Ermita de la Blanca) was renewed several times.
• The isolated standing on the edge and also late Romanesque church (Iglesia San Miguel) is in ruinous condition; the west side is a late Romanesque portal with steps Archivolts, a round window and a doppelbogigen bell gable ( espadaña ).
• A late Gothic wayside cross ( Cruz del Saludo ) from the 15th century is about a kilometer before the village.