Trasmoz is a village in the

province of Zaragoza Zaragoza (), also called Saragossa in English,''Encyclopædia Britannica''Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)/ref> is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon. Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also t ...

, Aragon,

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 ...

, with an estimated population of 96. The town has given rise to numerous legends about witches and sabbaths, some of which were recreated by the romantic writer

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer Gustavo Adolfo Claudio Domínguez Bastida (17 February 1836 – 22 December 1870), better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (), was a Spanish Romantic poet and writer (mostly short stories), also a playwright, literary columnist, and talented ...

. It is the only Spanish town officially cursed and excommunicated by the Catholic Church. The excommunication has never been revoked. Trasmoz is a town steeped in witchcraft. Each year, a citizen is awarded with the distinction "Bruja del Año" (Witch of the year) in recognition of the services for the community, for remembrance, white plaques are installed on the front door of the awarded person's house.

History

Middle Ages

The origin of the village can be tracked back to the 12th century, when the lordship of Trasmoz was founded. It alternately belonged to the Kingdom of Navarre and the Kingdom of Aragon until Jaime I, king of Aragón, definitively conquered it in 1232. In 1437 Alfonso V put it under the authority of Don Lope Ximenez de Urrea (I count of Aranda).

Modern Ages

After the death of Lope, his two sons fought for the Señorío de Trasmoz. Finally, the youngest, Pedro Manuel Ximenez de Urrea won. Pedro Manuel had a conflict, very close to a civil war, with Veruela Abbey for the irrigation water. The response from the Abbey was a curse and the excommunication of the whole town. About 1530 the Castle of Trasmoz was abandoned. Afterwards, there was a fire in the tower of homage, and a significant fraction of building materials were reused.

Places of interest

Castle of Trasmoz

It was abandoned in 1530. In 1998 Manuel Jalón Corominas created the "Foundation Castillo de Trasmoz" after purchasing the building. Then the castle was rebuilt. The floor of the castle is hexagonal, with towers in the vertexes, built between the 13th and 15th centuries. The tower of homage is the oldest remain, it is of squared floor, it is located in the center of the castle, formerly it was finished with battlements. Today, the castle houses the "Museum of Witchery".

Church of Santa María de La Huerta

The building is of Gothic style (XVI).The oldest part is the arch of the main door where a

Chi-Rho The Chi Rho (☧, English pronunciation ; also known as ''chrismon'') is one of the earliest forms of Christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters— chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word ( Christos) in such a way tha ...

Christogram from the late 13th century can be found.

Nayim's Goal Street

Named to remember the epic football goal scored by

Nayim Mohamed Alí Amar (born 5 November 1966), known as Nayim, is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He scored a last-minute goal for Real Zaragoza in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final against Arsenal, w ...

in the final seconds of

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

in the

1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final The 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match on 10 May 1995 contested between cup holders Arsenal of England and Zaragoza of Spain. The final was held at Parc des Princes in Paris. It was the final match of the 1994–95 UEFA Cup Wi ...

from 45 yards, it broke the tie, and won the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup for the

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

Monument to the mop

Manuel Jalón Corominas, the Spanish inventor of the mop and its bucket, was a temporary resident in the village. After his death in 2011 a monument to his most celebrated creation was erected by the sculptor Luigi Maráez.

Cycling and Trekking

Trasmoz Monasterio de Veruela

Agramonte

La Oruña

Miscellanea

# Don Pedro Ramírez and his son were sentenced to death for forging fake coins in the castle. The faked coins are known as "Maravedies falsos de Trasmoz". # Mr Julio Iglesias Puga —father of the singer

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

— was kidnapped by the Basque separatist

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

. He was in a house in Trasmoz for the 21 days that the kidnapping lasted. He was freed on 17 January 1982 in an imposing operation by Spanish GEO (

Grupo Especial de Operaciones The Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO, ; '' en, Special Group of Operations'', GEO), is the police tactical unit of Spain's National Police Corps. The GEO has response capabilities and is responsible for VIP protection duties, as well as counte ...

) involving about 100 policemen. # It is one of the few Spanish villages not to have been covered neither by

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expan ...

nor by

Apple Look Around Apple Look Around is a technology featured in Apple Maps that provides interactive panoramas from positions along a number of streets in various countries. Look Around allows the user to view 360° street-level imagery, with smooth transitions a ...

References

{{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Zaragoza