Bandalíes: Ceramic Tradition and Historic Houses

Culture and Craftsmanship

Bandalíes preserves a pottery tradition closely linked to the village. The ceramics museum presents its earlier form, which specialised in fire ceramics such as pots and casseroles. Soup tureens were among the leading products of this fire-ceramics production. The Abió family keeps a pottery workshop with more than 700 years of activity alive. Clay jugs adorn the façades and rooflines of the houses in Bandaliés. The village’s manor houses also feature coats of arms and finely decorated portals.

In Bandaliés, craftsmanship, domestic architecture and sacred sites are closely interconnected locally. The ceramic traces on the houses complement the buildings’ forms and materials, while the museum and workshop present the history of the pottery tradition from different perspectives.

Domestic Architecture

Casa (15 Plaza Mayor) is a three-storey building made of ashlar masonry and rammed earth, with later brick additions. The year 1745 is engraved on the door lintel. Casa Vallés has one of the most richly ornamented portals among the secular buildings in the Hoya de Huesca. Casa Bara is a large, elongated, three-storey building made of ashlar masonry, brick and rammed earth, with a three-sided tiled roof.

Casa Arnal is a traditional three-storey building made of ashlar masonry and rendered, whitewashed rammed earth. Casa Suelves is a traditional three-storey building made of white-rendered and whitewashed ashlar masonry and rammed earth. It also has a round-arched portal and decorated surrounds featuring rectangular fluting. The signature of the stonemason Francisco Laspalas appears on a voussoir of the entrance arch of Casa Batalla de Bandaliés.

The houses therefore differ not only in their size and floor arrangement, but also in their roof forms, masonry and portal details. From the engraved date of 1745 at Casa to the stonemason’s signature at Casa Batalla de Bandaliés, the visible details range from a mark of time to the personal mark of a named craftsman.

Sacred Sites

The parish church of Santa María stands in Bandaliés’s village square. The church tower offers views of the Sierra and Tozal de Guara. The Ermita de San Pedro lies approximately 600 m south of Bandaliés; from the A-1227, it can be reached via an unsigned path.

The Ermita de San Pedro is a building made of ashlar masonry with a single nave, a rectangular floor plan, external buttresses and a flat chancel facing east.

On the Way

The BTT route Abadiado de Montearagón runs from the Ermita de la Virgen del Viñedo via Loporzano and Bandaliés and back to the Ermita de la Virgen del Viñedo. Bandaliés appears on it as one of the explicitly named places between the route’s starting and return points.

Other Places

For further regional exploration, Santa Eulalia La Mayor is also among the options.

Traditions

A pilgrimage to the Virgen del Viñedo takes place in Bandaliés on 1 May.

For the overarching travel overview: Loporzano.