Sierra de la Virgen is a mountain range in the Aranda and Comunidad de Calatayud comarcas,

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is located south of the

Moncayo Massif Moncayo is a 15 km long and about 7 km wide mountain chain giving name to the Tarazona y el Moncayo Comarcas of Aragon, comarca, Aragon, Spain. The Moncayo's highest summit, San Miguel (), is the highest point in the 500 km long S ...

between the valleys of the Jalón and the Aranda rivers, rising north of the N-234 road, roughly between

Calatayud Calatayud (; 2014 pop. 20,658) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Province of Zaragoza, within Aragón, Spain, lying on the river Jalón (river), Jalón, in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. It is the second-largest ...

and Torrelapaja.

Geography

The ridge is aligned in a NW-SE direction. Its highest point is Cabrera (1,433 m); other important summits are Virgen de la Sierra (1,413 m), Cucuta (1,300 m), San Cristóbal (1,264 m), Pico de Morés (1,186 m) and Monte de la Lezna (1,173 m). The adjacent Sierra de Vicort stretches east of Sierra de la Virgen in the same direction. The name of this mountain chain derives from the Santuario de la Virgen de la Sierra, a

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

shrine located in the heights of the mountain range, about 22 km to the north of Villarroya de la Sierra town. These mountains are mostly covered with low

maquis shrub image:Macchia01.jpg, 220px, Low maquis in Corsica image:Gutturu mannu g4.jpg, 220px, High ''macchia'' in Sardinia ( , , ) or ( , ; often in Italian; , ; ; ; ) is a savanna-like shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting ...

and they have been repopulated with

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

since the 20th century. The Sierra de la Virgen is often subject to

wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

in periods of prolonged drought. Native trees include

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

and ''Carrasca'' (''

Quercus ilex ''Quercus ilex'', the holly oak, also (ambiguously, as many oaks are evergreen) evergreen oak, is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the section (botany), section ''List of Quercus species#Section Ilex, Il ...

''),Sierra de la Virgen - Hoces del Jalón
/ref> among others. There are other smaller mountain chains named "Sierra de la Virgen" in Spain. One is in Ciudad Real Province, part of the Montes de Toledo, and the other is located in Córdoba Province,

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

References

External links

*
Sierra de la Virgen - Tourism in Aragon

Hiking in Sierra de la Virgen
Virgen Virgen {{Aragon-geo-stub

Geography

See also

References

External links