Peter Nientied
‘La España Vacía’ - empty Teruel
España vacía
The ongoing photo project España vacía investigates rural landscapes in Spain's interior. These landscapes show a more diverse real world than a merely deteriorating countryside, as often depicted. Yes, one finds emptiness, abandonment and a greying population. But one also finds large scale agriculture, solar parks and windmills, cultural initiatives, expanding agro-companies and slowly emerging rural tourism.
The first two photos of Province of Teruel show a work of art, 'Disonancias sin destino' (dissonances without destiny), an installation and a poetic text on the back side of the installation. In the background of the first picture is the old railway station of Alcorisa. The text talks about the train that never reached the station – another failed project in Teruel, en ‘España Vaciada’.
Click to enlarge. Source: openstreetmap.org
Click, full screen with upper left arrow.
The province of Teruel measures 14,804 km2. By car, on provincial roads, the distance from North-East to South-West (Calaceite to Albaraacín) is 213 km. The province has 135,000 inhabitants. One century ago, the province had 264,000 people. It experienced the biggest exodus between 1960 and 1970, when the number of inhabitants dropped from 223,785 to 173,861. The population decline has been continuing. The closure of the coal mines played a role, and so did the national trends of having fewer children, younger people leaving the countryside for education and jobs, and older people leaving to be closer to their (grand)children. The population decrease came to an end in 2024 due to the inflow of migrants from Maroc, Romania, and Latin American countries. The number of inhabitants is likely to stabilise.
The capital, Teruel has 35,900 inhabitants and two other towns have more than 5,000 inhabitants: Alcañiz (16,000) and Andorra (8,200). The population density of the entire province is approximately 9.1 inhabitants per km2. A century ago, this was almost double this figure. That is still quite low. Teruel is 'empty' Spain, but Teruel was always 'empty' Spain.
The geographical situation in Teruel is different from Los Monegros in the province of Huesca (click here). Teruel has mostly sierras (plains) above 1,000 meters and mountainous terrain. Large-scale agriculture prevails in the north of the province where altitudes are lower. Large livestock farms are ubiquitous throughout the province.
Teruel Existe, a citizens movement turned into a political force, demands better infrastructure (a connection to the high speed rail network is a struggle going on for decades) and more recognition from ‘Madrid’. New developments in the province include solar and wind energy and rural tourism. The pretty town of Teruel receives quite a few visitors, and so does the Motorland race circuit close to Alcañiz. Teruel has invested in rural tourism, but tourism numbers are still modest.