History of Bulbuente Castle
The castle-palace of the abbots of Veruela, in the town of Bulbuente, is a palace built in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in brick, on the site of an ancient castle of the twelfth century. In addition, attached to it, there is a defensive tower dating from the tenth century, approximately.
The proximity to the border with Castile forced the Aragonese to build a series of castles in the twelfth century as a defensive system, among which was the castle of Bulbuente.
Until 1247, Bulbuente was just another town of the Crown of Aragon, but in this date, King James I the Conqueror exchanged the territory with Purujosa and it became part of the lordship of the monastery of Veruela.
Some time later, in 1301, the monastery exchanged the church of Calcena with that of Bulbuente and from then on, the town would be entirely under the dominion of Verol.
The castle-palace thus became the most important possession of the monastery in the valley and the beginning of its expansion throughout the valley (Maleján, Ainzón, Pozuelo…).
After the war between the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon, also known as the War of the Two Peters (1356-1367), the castle and the tower lost their defensive function, so the abbots of the monastery decided to build a palace and rebuild the keep to attach it to the palace.
For the reconstruction of the tower they no longer used stone ashlars like those found in the lower part, but opted for masonry because it is more economical and allows a faster reconstruction.
Since then and until the second half of the 19th century, both the palace and the municipality belonged to the monastery of Veruela. It stands as an important economic and productive center, focused on the production of wine, tiles and ice.
After the disentailment of Mendizábal, specifically in 1846, the palace was auctioned divided into five different lots, as well as the rest of the territories that belonged to the Lordship of Veruela in the region of Campo de Borja.
In this way the castle palace is fragmented, in the eagerness to recover it, to the initial purchase of the central building in 2012, are added a room on the first floor, the house at number 3 Palace Street, several plots up to the Huecha riverbed and the one known as Casa del Cura or old parish house at number 2 Church Street, built in 1920 on the site of part of the palace, by Doña Vicenta Luna, maternal grandmother of Julio Alejandro, famous screenwriter of Luis Buñuel.
Throughout the 20th century, different families from Bulbuenta lived in the building and the condition of the building deteriorated with the passing of time. Finally, in 2012, the current owner Manuel Giménez bought the building from the last family that still lived in the palace and began its rehabilitation, managing to bring to light all the constructive history of the building.