Rare is the list of the most beautiful towns in Spain that does not include Albarracín (Teruel) in its top positions. Declared a National Monument in 1961, tens of thousands of visitors from diverse backgrounds walk through its streets, engrossed every year. Massive tourism that contributes to the economic development of the area, but is leading to the deterioration of the slope on which the crenellated wall that embraces the town sits, which already has some loose ashlars.
The alarm has been raised by the Santa María de Albarracín Foundation, an institution specialized in heritage restoration. They warn that the “perpetual pilgrimage of visitors” is causing a “very serious” erosive process, particularly in the northern part of the wall, considered the most important monument in the town. This construction can be visited freely and free of charge, and visitors climb to the top without any type of surveillance to enjoy one of the best panoramic views that the town offers.
“Everyone climbs where they please and without control, including those who climb in an adventurous plan, as if they were going to discover the Americas. This erodes the land and destroys the vegetation cover, and even the conduits that carry the cables to illuminate the wall are being exposed,” Antonio Jiménez, manager of the foundation, says by phone. “The Torre del Andador, at the apex of the wall, also suffers a lot, as it is very degraded on the outside. There is a serious danger there,” he adds.
The situation of that northern sector was the subject of study of the applied course on Cultural Landscapes, organized by the Santa María Foundation, which has recently been developed in the town. “One of the greatest threats that this area faces is, without a doubt, tourism and the lack of management of the monumental and natural environment,” they warn in their conclusions.
In this course, a battery of measures to protect the wall was also presented in collaboration with the authorities. First of all, they ask to carry out an in-depth study to determine the situation and the tourist pressure it is capable of supporting. Based on the results, solutions are being considered such as delimiting the paths, replanting the rest of the slope with native varieties and channeling inflows, so as to avoid crowding and damage to the environment.
Jiménez assures that there is still no talk of applying payment formulas for access, but there is talk of limiting access to the Torre del Andador or talking to the tour guides so that they can give certain guidelines to their clients. “The problem is not tourism, it is the lack of tourist control,” adds the manager, who believes that there is still time to not die of success.
With a population of around 1,000 inhabitants, around 90,000 people passed through the Tourism Office in 2022, a figure that is far from the total number of visitors, since only a portion of travelers visit the information point in person. Even so, the mayor of the town, Daniel Úbeda, rejects to this newspaper that there are problems of overcrowding "except at specific times", a common problem "in many other tourist sites."
What he does assume is a problem with housing for long-term rentals. According to him, many houses in the rural area are second homes for people who do not want to rent them or are rented as homes for tourist use, something that has an impact on the time to attract new neighbors who cannot find a place to stay. “We have to control it because it can escalate and aggravate the problems,” says Úbeda, who is committed to expanding the urban offer and diversifying the economic fabric of the town so as not to depend so much on tourism.
Looking to the most immediate future, the foundation and the city council agree to create a scientific commission of experts in tourism and heritage to rule on a series of recommendations on the possible steps to be taken. “It could even serve as an example for other historical complexes, in many of which the limit of their capacity is frequently exceeded,” Jiménez added.
