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Biescas () is a municipality of northeastern
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
close to the border with
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, in the midst of the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
in the province of
Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...
. The name seems to provide from the term ''bizka'', which means "hill" in a
Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
. The town of Biescas is located at 875 meters altitude on the banks of the
Gállego river Gallego may refer to: * Gallego (surname) * Galician language, the language spoken in northwestern Spain * Gállego (river), a tributary of the Ebro, a river in the north of Spain * Del Gallego, Camarines Sur, a municipality in the Philippines * ...
. The municipality extends along a small plain and includes the canyon to access to the
Tena Valley The Tena Valley is a valley located at the southern side of the Pyrenees, in the Alto Gállego comarca, province of Huesca, and is crossed by the Gállego river from north to south. Its main town is Sallent de Gállego. The valley is surrounded ...
. At 72 km north of the main city Huesca, Biescas is a communication hub between the regions of
Jacetania La Jacetania ( an, A Chacetania; french: Jacétanie) is a comarca in northern Aragon, Spain. It is located in the northwestern corner of the Huesca and Zaragoza provinces. The administrative capital is Jaca, with 13,374 inhabitants the largest ...
and
Sobrarbe Sobrarbe is one of the comarcas of Aragon, Spain. It is located in the northern part of the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragon in Spain. Many of its people speak the Aragonese language locally known as ''fabla''. Th ...
. The town is strategically located to crossing the Gállego river, as a link between the valleys of Tena and Ara.


Demography and population entities

The municipality extends over an area of 189.09 km2. Distributing the town main parallel to the river, with two areas of different altitude delimiting two historic districts: to the west, the district of San Pedro, which includes an area for expansion and new constructions, and eastern district of San Salvador split, itself, into the neighborhood of La Peña (The Rock) and the Downtown, where are located the administration and most of the services and shops in the village. According to the Spanish Statistics National Institute, the current municipality has 1,535 inhabitants and includes the villages of: The municipality also includes the depopulated villages of Búbal, Polituara, Saquès, Ainielle, Susín, Berbusa and Casbas.


Economy

The economic activities in Biescas have historically been traditional farming of cereals and of fodder for livestock, logging of forests, and bovine cattle and sheep for local consumption. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Biescas highlighted in the region for its wool traditional textile industry, specialized in blankets and equipment for horses. Since the beginning of the nineties of the twentieth century, tourism has replaced the traditional economy of the town. Residents have been gradually leaving farming and agriculture to engage in construction and services. Currently Biescas constitutes an important touristic point in the central Pyrenees, both in summer and winter.


History

The oldest pieces of evidence from human presence in the Biescas municipality are Neolithic
cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...
s from the plain of Santa Engracia, which are estimated to be from the III millennium BC. One of them has been restored. Biescas began to form as a village in the Middle Ages, given its strategic location as a crossroads. The first document of its existence is a citation in the
Cartulary A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll (''rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...
of San Juan de la Peña, between 1020 and 1030 AC. In a document of 1391 it appears cited with the name of Biescas Sobirón. Biescas has always been a town endowed with royal privileges and had two ecclesiastical parishes: San Salvador and San Pedro. Although in the old ages it also had two other temples, the San Torcuato and St. Stephen churches. It is also documented that the hermitage of Santa Elena was reconstructed by
King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 â€“ 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
in 1253 and endowed with privileges by King Ferdinand in 1484 and King Charles V in 1525. In the sixteenth century, King Philip II ordered to fortify the Santa Elena canyon to protect his kingdoms of possible threats from beyond the Pyrenees. To this end, The Castle of San Pedro was built in neighboring
Jaca Jaca (; in Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón River, situated at the crossing of two great ...
together with other defenses still visible in the valleys of the Aragon and Gállego rivers. In this context, on 6 and 7 February 1592 eight hundred people from Béarn invaded and occupied Biescas and the Tena Valley for eleven days, before being defeated in the Gorge of Lutherans battle. During the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
(1936-1939) Biescas was almost razed. At the beginning of the conflict the town was quickly conquered by the rebel side and was involved in the Battle of Sabiñánigo, between September and November 1937. In this battle the 43rd and 27th divisions of the army of the Spanish Second Republic launched an offensive against the rebels, specifically against the I brigade of the 51st National Division and local volunteers such as the Valley Tena Panthers. Biescas was recovered by Republican troops at the beginning of the offensive. It is estimated that during the course of the Battle of Sabiñánigo, the total number of deaths (soldiers and civilians) was around 6,000 people. In August 1996, 86 people died due to a flood in ''Las Nieves'' camping.


Main sights

* Church of San Salvador. It was built around the year 1200 and was destroyed in the cir of 1936 and later rebuilt. However, the main body of the church still has the original romanesque semicircular apse and chancel. * Hermitage of Santa Elena. The current temple was built in the seventeenth century over the River Gallego to the entrance of the Tena Valley, at 5 km from the town center. It stands in the forest with its head built in a cave, next to an intermittent source called The Glorious * Torraza de los Acín. At the town center, it stands a medieval military housing now converted into a museum. This fortified house was built in 1580 by the
Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Leà ...
Juan de Acín as a symbol of his economic and social position. It is a stone building, a magnificent representative of the local architecture of that time. * Chimneys. In Biescas you can see good examples of popular Pyrenean architecture, excelling its balconies and also its chimneys with a conical frustum shape. The latter are characteristic of the traditional buildings of the Aragonese Pyrenees. Some of them present peculiar ornaments known as ''espantabrujas'' (scarewitches) with supposed protective actions.


Sport

*
Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín Coti (born 24 January 1968) is a Spanish former road racing cyclist. Between 1995 and 2000 he came in the top 10 of the Tour de France five times and in that same time period finished on the podium in 2nd place at the Vuelta a ...
(born January 24, 1968, Biescas) is a retired professional road racing cyclist. In his resume stands out the victory in the
Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; en, Tour of Catalonia, es, Vuelta a Cataluña, link=no) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of ...
in 1997 and third overall in the 1999
Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
. * The football team U.D. Biescas plays in the 3rd Spanish division. They play their matches on the ''Fernando Escartín'' football pitch in honour of the cyclist
Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín Coti (born 24 January 1968) is a Spanish former road racing cyclist. Between 1995 and 2000 he came in the top 10 of the Tour de France five times and in that same time period finished on the podium in 2nd place at the Vuelta a ...
.


Sister cities – international relations


See also

*
Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín Coti (born 24 January 1968) is a Spanish former road racing cyclist. Between 1995 and 2000 he came in the top 10 of the Tour de France five times and in that same time period finished on the podium in 2nd place at the Vuelta a ...
*
Tena Valley The Tena Valley is a valley located at the southern side of the Pyrenees, in the Alto Gállego comarca, province of Huesca, and is crossed by the Gállego river from north to south. Its main town is Sallent de Gállego. The valley is surrounded ...
*
Alto Gállego Alto Gállego ( Aragonese: ''Alto Galligo'') is a comarca located in the north of the autonomous community of Aragón, Spain. It occupies practically the entirety of the upper basin of the Río Gállego. Historically the comarca was a part of t ...


References


External links


Biescas official website
{{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Huesca