Ateca

Ateca sits on one of the oldest through-routes in Iberia, the corridor that links the Ebro valley to the central plateau by way of the Jalón and Henares rivers. A Roman road, the Iter XXV of the Antonine Itineraries, ran through here connecting Augusta Emerita to Caesaraugusta via Toledo. Before the Romans, this was Celtiberian territory, the land of the Belos tribe. Some historians identify Ateca with Attakon, named by Ptolemy, while others argue it was Alce, mentioned by Livy — a hilltop walled city with a citadel, which matches what archaeology has found here.

The surrounding area has yielded finds spanning the Copper Age to the Middle Ages. Iron Age hand-formed pottery has come up near Las Balsas; Celtiberian ceramics with bands and circles near La Mora Encantada. Foundations at that same site have been linked to Alcocer, the settlement named in the Cantar de Mío Cid, and a nearby site called Torrecid is identified as the fortified camp from which El Cid took Alcocer and the castles of Ateca and Terrer.

After the Visigoths came four centuries of Islamic rule, beginning in 711.

Ateca's historic centre is an irregular tangle of lanes, small squares, and Mudéjar architecture. The town has ten officially listed heritage assets.

The parish church of Santa María stands at the heart of town. Its tower is Mudéjar in style, built on an Almohad minaret structure — a tower within a tower connected by a staircase — possibly dating from the end of the twelfth century, or according to some authors an actual Almohad tower from the pre-existing mosque. Inside, look for a Gothic Christ figure now placed above the choir, and an 1798 organ, fully restored, which is noted for its sound.

The Torre del Reloj leans slightly, built on the remains of an old fortress. Its upper section holds two bells; the level below carries a large clock with a white face and Roman numerals, installed in 2005 after the previous clock broke down. The town hall dates from 1629–1634 and is a solid example of Aragonese Renaissance civic architecture.

Ateca has three castles. The main one, at the highest point of the old town, was rebuilt as a riflemen's fort in the nineteenth century on Muslim foundations, recently restored and now used as a hotel. A second castle, shared with neighbouring Terrer on the hill of San Esteban, is the one cited in the Cantar de Mío Cid as Alcocer. A Renaissance palace on Calle Areal Alto, number 6, associated with the scholar Julio Cejador y Frauca, is in poor condition.

The municipality also has six ermitas and several peirones.