Castle of Mequinenza The castle stands at the edge of a great cliff overlooking the confluence of the Ebro, Segre and Cinca rivers. Its plan is an irregular quadrilateral with seven rectangular towers except one which is pentagonal. Two towers flank the small semicircular door protected by a portico. Few fortresses will have a better location than this, contemplating an extensive and impressive landscape on the confluence of the three rivers and their surrounding lands until reaching the Pyrenees at the horizon. The noble family of Moncada, lords of the barony of Mequinenza, chose this eagle's nest to create a castle-palace fortification. The building is an authentic masterpiece, one of the best that Gothic art bequeathed to the Crown of Aragon. It is dated from the 14th and 15th centuries. Initially, it was possibly an Arab fortress built by the Berber tribe of the Miknasa towards the 12th century. The tribe created the town and also give its name. With the reconquest it fell to
Ramón Berenguer IV. After being a crown possession, it was given to the noble family of Moncada. One of the great sieges of the castle took place during the
Peninsular War when it was conquered by the French Napoleonic troops of Marshal Suchet; it belonged to the French government until 1814. "Mequinenza" was inscribed in large letters on one of the outer columns of the
Arc de Triomphe in Paris to commemorate one of the great French victories in the Iberian Peninsula. Currently the castle is privately owned by the ENDESA Foundation. In order to visit the castle it is necessary to put in a request in advance at the Tourist Office of the City Council of Mequinenza. Guided free tours are held on Tuesday mornings with prior request.
Museums of Mequinenza In the Museums of Mequinenza it is possible to explore an underground coal mining gallery with more than 1000 meters in the Museum of the Mine, explore the history of the population until the disappearance of the old town under the waters of the Ebro river in the Museum of History or discover how was the Prehistory in the Museum of the Prehistoric Past. Inaugurated in 2010, they are located in the old Maria Quintana School Group, the old schools of the town built in 1929.
Old Town of Mequinenza The old town of Mequinenza was located on the left bank of the Ebro River, just at the point where they converge with the waters of Segre and Cinca. It was demolished almost completely during the construction of the Ribarroja reservoir. It constituted an urban nucleus with characteristics of the localities of the lower section of the Ebro, with an urban plot dating back to the Muslim era. With the franquismo and the arrival of the ENHER company and the construction of the Mequinenza and Riba-roja dams, life changed for the old town on the banks of the Ebro. The industries began to close due to the significant increase in the water level of the waters and the population began to demand alternatives to the flooding of the urban nucleus. Thus began an exodus for the inhabitants of Mequinenza who had to leave their homes to move to a new population. Part of the ancient population of Mequinenza can be visited today because it has become a large outdoor memory park. The original paths of the streets and houses that were above the water level have been recovered from the runes. The old Mequinenza, the "Old Town", is an invitation to walk through the memory of its streets and alleys, to rediscover part of the old Church, to imagine the old docks and to know a thousand stories, curiosities and legends from a millenary and historic town of navigators and miners on the banks of the Ebro river.
Jesús Moncada and "The towpath" Mequinenza is also a reference point for literature lovers.
Jesús Moncada, the most universal writer from Mequinenza, turned the old village into the main location of the many personal stories told in his books. His novel
Camí de Sirga ("The Towpath") was translated into more than 20 languages (including Japanese, Swedish and Vietnamese). It is an amalgam of characters and stories from ancient Mequinenza and its tragic disappearance. He is considered one of the most important authors in Catalan language of his time. He received several awards for all his works, among others the City of Barcelona Award or the National Critics Award in 1989 for "Camí de sirga" or the Creu de Sant Jordi granted by the Generalitat of Catalonia in 2001. In 2004 he received the Aragonese Letters Prize.
Ramón J. Sender Ramón José Sender Garcés was a Spanish novelist, essayist and journalist born in
Chalamera in 1901. Several of his works were translated into English by the distinguished zoologist, Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, including "Seven Red Sundays" ("Siete domingos rojos"), "Mr Witt Among the Rebels" ("Mr Witt en el cantón") and "The War in Spain" ("Contraataque").
Bilingual zone The Bajo / Baix Cinca region is bilingual. The municipalities of Mequinenza,
Torrente de Cinca,
Velilla de Cinca and
Zaidín are mostly Catalan speakers while Fraga brings together a similar percentage of Catalan-speaking and Spanish-speaking population. The municipalities of
Ballobar,
Belver de Cinca,
Candasnos,
Chalamera,
Ontiñena and
Osso de Cinca are Spanish speakers. More than 80% of the inhabitants of Bajo / Baix Cinca speak Western Catalan. The successive civilizations that passed throughout history through this territory left their culture and also their language. In this sense, the Catalan landed in this territory at the time of the Reconquest initiated by Ramón Berenguer IV who repopulated this region with people coming from the Ribagorza, the Pallars and the Urgel. The language has survived to the present in its oral variant. The majority of its inhabitants are bilingual in Spanish - the language in which all primary and secondary education are received - and also in Catalan.
Declaration of Mequinenza The Declaration of Mequinenza (Declaració de Mequinensa in Catalan) is a document signed on 1 February 1984 in Mequinenza (Bajo / Baix Cinca, Aragon, Spain) by the mayors of 17 municipalities of the Aragonese Catalan-speaking area together with José Bada Paniello (Minister of Culture of Government of Aragon at the time). Following the declaration, and complying with one of the proposals contained therein, on 1 October 1985, an agreement between the Government of Aragon and the Ministry of Education and Science for the teaching of education would be signed and published in the Official Gazette of Aragon Catalan language as a voluntary and evaluable subject in schools in the area. ==Nature heritage==