Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Belchite old town (Pueblo Viejo)
Ruined village
The story
During the Republican Zaragoza offensive the Army of the East under General Sebastián Pozas, with the XI and XV International Brigades, turned on Belchite when the drive on Zaragoza stalled. Thousands of soldiers and civilians were inside the town. Republican troops went in on 1 September and fought house by house, and the town fell on 6 September. Losses were heavy on both sides, and many defenders were taken prisoner. After the war Franco left the ruins as a monument and built a new Belchite next to them. The Trujal, once a Nationalist memorial inside the ruins, now honours all who died in the battle.
What you can see today
Shell-scarred churches of San Martín de Tours and San Agustín, the Torre del Reloj, the Arco de San Roque and streets of roofless houses. There is also the Trujal memorial.
Plan your visit
Entry is by guided tour only (about 1½ hours, starting at the Arco de la Villa). Day tours run every day; night tours on Friday and Saturday focus more on local legends than on the battle. Buy tickets at the tourist office (C/ Becú 2, new town) or on belchite.es, and check prices and times there just before you go.
- Booking
- Guided tour only; tickets at belchite.es or the tourist office, C/ Becú 2. Times and prices vary by season: check belchite.es
Checked September 2026 from official sources: belchite.es, belchite.es, belchite.es. Things change, so check before you travel.
Sources
- mapcarta.com/W227027707
- mapcarta.com/W227027707
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belchite_(1937)
- belchite.es/mas-info-visita-pueblo-viejo/
- tracesofwar.com/sights/143295/Trujal-Memorial-To-The-Fallen.htm
Nearby sites
- Codo – battle of the Montserrat requetés · 5 km
- Quinto – Purburel / Cabezo de la Nariz trenches · 24 km
- Quinto – El Piquete church · 25 km
- Fuentes de Ebro – tank attack of October 1937 · 25 km
- Torrero Cemetery memorials (Zaragoza) · 38 km
- Basílica del Pilar – the unexploded bombs (Zaragoza) · 41 km
All 158 sites in Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 →
The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The battlefields, trenches, ruined villages, shelters, museums and memorials of the Spanish Civil War across the whole of Spain, told fairly from both sides.
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