Riglos (Huesca) (0)

Did you know that... Riglos

It is situated on the left bank of the river Gallego, on a slope adapted to the hillside under the impressive vertical walls of the Mallos de Riglos. It belongs, along with other towns, to the municipality of Las Peñas de Riglos in the region of La Hoya de Huesca. It is known that the town of Riglos was fortified in the middle of the 11th century and nowadays there are still some remains of its walls, at that time it was a royal village. When King Pedro I of Aragon died without any descendants he bequeathed these places known as the "Kingdom of the Mallos" to his wife Berta and this small town of Riglos became his capital. When Queen Berta died, this tiny state became part of the Crown of Aragon again. Of these events that took place between the years 1104 and 1110, very few data and documents are preserved. It is known that the castle was still inhabited in the 14th century, as there are writings in which King Peter IV of Aragon gave it to his steward and adviser Peter Jordan de Urriés to make the necessary repairs. In the 1960s the town, along with other nearby villages, was united to form the municipality of Las Peñas de Riglos.

To discover What to see in Riglos?

Riglos is a picturesque little village that, seen from afar, looks like a small white spot in the spectacular landscape around it and retains the charm of places where time seems to be non-existent. Its urban framework is perfectly adapted to the irregular terrain in which it is located, and in its streets you can admire the typical popular buildings. A monolith, erected by the Montañeros de Aragón in homage to the mountaineers and climbers who died in the area, welcomes the visitor and also warns him that he is entering a magical place of legend where the geological formations of tertiary origin, which with the passage of time were, due to the folding of the terrain, rising up and forming the famous Mallos de Riglos, stand defying the most intrepid climber. These gigantic stone masses are also an excellent home for different birds of prey; to enter their world there is the Interpretation Centre of the Arcaz Birds of Prey. The parish church of Nuestra Señora del Mallo, built in the 17th century, has two beautiful Romanesque images inside, the Virgin del Mallo and the Virgin of Carcavilla. From the disappeared monastery of San Martín, the small Romanesque church from the 11th century is preserved, which has a semicircular apse and a beautiful chrismonium in the tympanum of the door.

Festivities

Riglos celebrates the Virgen del Mallo on June 1st and pays homage to San Sebastian on January 20th.

Traditions

In the summer of 1965 a group of abstract painters from the "Zaragoza Group" and a group of Aragonese writers met in Riglos and signed the so-called "Riglos Manifesto" in which they demanded greater support and encouragement for culture.

Curiosities

The Mallos of Riglos, which are approximately twenty rock formations whose walls can reach three hundred meters high, each one of them receives a different name referring, some, to houses of Riglos, like Pisón and Firé, others, to their color or shape, the Puro, la Visera, Colorado, and others receive their name from some character.

The Legend

Legend has it that in the Kingdom of the Mallos lived the young Pedro who had the amazing ability to make spectacular jumps and who was given the nickname of "the grasshopper". Being young one day he accepted the bet that if he was able to jump from the top of the bell tower of the church, a bet that he won, because in the jump, which he made with great agility, he was completely unharmed. After that, Pedro warned that he would never again accept any challenge. One day Pedro was walking around Riglos when Queen Berta's archers mistook him for an animal and shot an arrow at him, which Pedro dodged without much trouble, running away from the place at great speed. When the queen heard what had happened, she sent for him and appointed him as her messenger, a position which he gladly accepted and became indispensable to his lady. His fame grew and grew and the people of the place soon challenged him again; this time the challenge was to jump from one of the Mallos. Pedro thought about it, because it was something that had always tempted him, but this time he set his conditions and one of them was that the people should move away from the place of the jump about 250 meters and that after he made it they would take about half an hour to approach the place of the fall, something that everyone accepted. When the day arrived, they concentrated under the Mallo and when they saw Peter at the top, they fulfilled the agreement and left. Peter had everything planned to be able to get away from the place of the jump quickly, and when he reached the ground in the precise place he had calculated and without a scratch, his wife was waiting for him with two horses and different clothes so that they would not recognize him, going away from where the people had gathered. After the half hour of the covenant, as they approached, they saw with great amazement that not a trace of Peter remained, well yes, only the traces of the jump. They looked for him for a long time everywhere, but there was no sign of Peter, and he was never heard of again.

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