afar, with its old walls, gates, and Aragonese towers, the city has an imposing look; it rises above its well-wooded Vega on the Turia, which is here joined by the Alfambra, a river fertile in fossils, and both are good fishing-streams. ‘The interior of the town is solid and gloomy. The Cathedral, raised to a see in 1577, is dark and much disfigured by stucco and Churrigueresque. The Corinthian stalls in the choir are good, and still better is the cinquecento retablo, a noble work by Gabriel Yoli, a French sculptor, who flourished here about 1538. Obs. also the portal and columns of the splendid Capilla de la Epifania; to the rt. of the transept is a picture of the eleven thousand virgins, by Antonio Bisquert, 1628, a rare Valencian artist, by whom is a retablo in the Capilla de los Reyes. The reja del coro is fine; look also at the two fine Custodias, especially the one in the form of atemple. In the sacristy, among other fine things, obs. a statue of a Magdalen of silver. In the Sala Capitular there is a curious mummified bust of the Anti-Pope Sanchez Muñoz, which is kept in a glass case. The bishop’s palace has a grand patio, although the upper corredor offends from having more pillars than the under ones, which thus are placed on crowns of the arches. In the Parroquia de San Pedro is a fine retablo, of the natural colour of the wood, by Yola, with pictures of the tutelars, San Joaquin and Santa Teresa, by Bisquert. All those whose hearts have ever been touched by the tender flame of love should visit the cloisters, in which are preserved the remains of the “lovers of Teruel,” so familiar to readers of Spanish plays. The names of these Peninsular Heloïsa and Abelard were Isabel de Segura and Juan Diego Martinez de Marcilla. They died in 1217, and their skeletons, the grand lions of Teruel, were brought here in 1708.[1]
In the Ch. of Santiago is a retablo and dead Christ by Bisquert, who evidently formed his eclectic style on Ribalta, the Carraccis, and Sebastian del Piombo: Bisquert died in 1646 from grief that Francisco Ximenez should have been chosen instead of himself to paint the “Adoration of the Kings,” in the cathedral. His works are very rare, scarcely known in Spain, and absolutely unknown out of it. The San Salvador contains a miraculous image, el Cristo de las tres manos, and a huge skeleton, much stared at by the natives.
The former Colegio de Jesuitas, now the Seminario Auxiliar, is a fine building. Look carefully at the aqueduct, los Arcos de Teruel, which is worthy of the Romans in form, intention, and solidity. It was raised in 1555–60 by a most skilful French architect named Pierres Bedel. The antiquarian should notice the Moorish watch-tower San Martin, near the gate Andaquilla, and the other tower called the Fondeadera, both decorated with tiles, to the N. of the city. Teruel bears for arms its river, a bull (Toro, Teruel), and a star, and 2 cannons above it. Diligences daily to Valencia, Siguenza, and on alternate days to Zaragoza. Railway projected to Zaragoza.
We are now in the centre of the volcano-disturbed district. At Caudete and Coneud, 3 m. distance, are some of the largest bone deposits in Hurope. The bones are found in every possible state, fossil and otherwise, and it has been conjectured, from the number of human remains, that some great battle must have been fought here: the Cueva Rubia, a Kirkdale on a large scale deserves particular investigation.
- ↑ See ‘Los Amantes de Teruel,’ by Perez de Montalban; ditto Juan Yaque de Salas, 8vo., Val., 1616; and drama by Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch.
