The town of Cañada de Benatanduz is located 1400 meters above sea level, being the highest municipality in the entire region. The toponymy of its “surname” (Benatanduz) seems to indicate that the village was founded during the Arab domination in Spain.
The town is made up of four neighborhoods. The first of these was Monjuí, built on a rocky spur of easy defense, in the style of other villages in the region such as Villarluengo and Cantavieja, of which only the ruins remain today. From this neighborhood there are spectacular views of the surroundings. The other three neighborhoods are La Villa, San Cristóbal and La Magdalena. This distribution causes the village to spread out in sectors and scattered houses, although close to each other. Only the neighborhood of La Villa forms a sort of grouped urban nucleus, since San Cristóbal and La Magdalena resemble a group of farmhouses, each of which has its own barns and corrals and its own threshing floor.
The most monumental buildings are located in the neighborhood of La Villa, presided over by the church of La Asunción, a baroque building from the 18th century, the old town hall from 1540 and the Hospital de los Pobres, from 1568. The latter two have three and two arches, respectively. In its surroundings we can also find the oven and some large house. In recent times, the old local school, closed in February 1975, has been restored. This educational heritage is exhibited in the building of the old hospital, but to enter, it is necessary to hire a guide to open it for you, such as T.Guío, or contact the City Hall to see if it has opening hours.
