Labraza

Spain, Spain

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Labraza is a small medieval hamlet in Álava province, Basque Country, Spain, now part of Oyón-Oion municipality since 1977, perched at 677 meters elevation in Rioja Alavesa with prehistoric roots and founded as a defensive village by King Sancho VII of Navarre, who granted it privileges in 1196.

Encircled by well-preserved walls declared a Cultural Interest Site, it once featured a formidable castle with four towers central to Navarre-Castile border wars, captured by Castilians in 1461 after sieges, with remnants integrated into the 16th-century Gothic Church of San Miguel.

Amid vineyards and agriculture, its three streets reveal historic houses like those of the governor and bishop, a secret Moorish fountain passage, and literary ties to Pío Baroja's novel "El Mayorazgo de Labraza," sustaining a population around 100.