Sallent de Gállego (Huesca) (1)

Did you know that... Sallent de Gállego

It is located at the head of the Tena Valley, in the centre of the Aragonese Pyrenees and on the banks of the Lanuza reservoir, in the highest part of the Alto Gállego region. The towns of Sallent, Formigal, Portalet d'Aneu, Lanuza, Escarrilla, Tramacastilla de Tena and Sandiniés make up the municipality of Sallent de Gállego, which occupies part of the Natural Monument of the Pyrenean Glaciers. The valley had population settlements from very old as it is testified by the megalithic remains that can be seen in various places in the area. Sallent de Gállego was a royalty town until it became a lordship of the Lanuza family. Sallent and Lanuza made up the Sallent kernel, one of the three historic territories into which the valley was administratively divided. The Ark of the Privileges of the Tena Valley, symbol of the union and organization of the three quiñones, housed the documentation and privileges of the valley. It could only be opened in the presence of the three quiñones because it had three locks and each quiñón kept one of the three keys. There are documents that prove the good and frequent relationship that existed with the Pyrenean valleys on the French side, with which they were linked by a very even economy, although this did not influence the inhabitants of the valley, as can be seen from the royal privileges obtained, to act as a brake and barrier to the many attempts at penetration by hostile forces.

To discover What to see in Sallent de Gállego?

Sallent de Gállego is a picturesque mountain village whose privileged location makes it the starting point for beautiful hiking and excursions, in which you can enjoy with lakes, ravines and ascents to the most emblematic peaks of this area of the Pyrenees is guaranteed. Among the urban framework of this town, where shields and old doors and windows, resisting the passage of time, mark out buildings of typical Pyrenean construction, rises in the upper area the parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built in the sixteenth century, on the remains of a previous Romanesque chapel of which the cover is preserved. It has a beautiful and valuable plateresque altarpiece and houses the town's patron saint, the Virgen de las Nieves. In the square where the town hall is located, the Giant of Sallent, a life-size statue, 2 m 29 cm, of the village's neighbour, Fermí Arrudi, poses tirelessly in front of the visitors' cameras. The Paco Bridge, a medieval bridge built over the Aguas Limpias river in the 16th century, is also remarkable. And to rest and comment on the day, in the centre of the village is the Mentidero, which is a large covered bench open to the street that is still used by the locals as a meeting place.

Festivities

Sallent de Gállego celebrates its patron saint the Virgen de las Nieves on August 5, on September 14 it celebrates the small festivities, the oldest and most traditional of its celebrations, in honour of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and prior to these festivities, the Cattle Fair takes place the weekend before. In July the protagonist is the Festival de Pirineos Sur, a musical and cultural festival, an encounter between continents, cultures and sounds.

Traditions

Sung works of religious music of popular character but inspired by the Gregorian have been maintained in the tradition and culture of the inhabitants of Sallent de Gállego. The Creed, the Kirie..., sung in the liturgy of the solemn masses, adapted to the tone and personal ways of the singing men of the choir of Sallent that have made them own of this town, arriving to give them so much fame that the mass of the festivities of the town is known as The Mass of Sallent de Gállego.

Curiosities

Sallent de Gállego, in the shadow of the Foratata, an emblematic rocky outcrop, is one of the municipalities with the most 3000-metre peaks. The rivers Gállego and its tributary, the Aguas Limpias, run through it. From Sallent de Gállego there is a path that leads to the place known as "El Saliente" or "Salto del Aguaslimpias", a small but beautiful waterfall that is said to have given the town its name. The GR-11, a mountain route par excellence that runs through the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian Sea, runs through the municipality.

The Legend

Sallent de Gállego has been a town closely linked to witchcraft, a magical history where mountains and places have names related to hell, the devil, goblins...In the Fair of the Witches, Myths and Legends of the Tena Valley that is celebrated in Sallent de Gállego on the second weekend of June, stories of witches and old smugglers can be heard in an atmosphere where parades, shows, magic markets, workshops, bewitched games... and the occasional adventure in search of some mysteriously lost neighbour are intermingled. All of this under the attentive gaze of the Peña Foratata, which according to legend is the chest of the beautiful Culibillas after she stuck a dagger in it to keep the white ants that helped her and saved her from the all-powerful Balaitus. According to the inhabitants of the village, the heartbeat of Culibillas can still be heard and it is kept inside, and that is why all the white ants of the valley are no longer seen.