Abadía (Cáceres)

Abadía municipality
Abadía - Town Hall (Casa Consistorial)
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Extremadura
Province :	Cáceres
Comarca :	Valle del Ambroz
Coordinates	40 ° 16 ′  N , 5 ° 59 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 16 ′  N , 5 ° 59 ′  W
Height :	450  msnm
Area :	45.08 km²
Residents :	331 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	7.34 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	10748
Municipality number  ( INE ):	10001
administration
Website :	Abadía

Abadía is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with 331 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the north of the province of Cáceres in the autonomous region of Extremadura in western Spain .

location

The place Abadía is on the Río Ambroz a good 100 km (driving distance) northeast of the provincial capital Cáceres at an altitude of approx. 450  m . The imposing town of Hervás is only 10 km to the east. The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 455 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year	1842	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	377	439	632	276	337

The significant population decline since the 1950s is mainly due to the mechanization of agriculture and the abandonment of small farms and the associated loss of jobs.

economy

The fertile but stony soils in the area provided the basis for the cultivation of wheat and other crops for the inhabitants who, in earlier times, were mainly self-sufficient . Traders, craftsmen and service providers of all kinds gradually settled in the town itself.

history

Small bronze , Iron Age , Roman and Visigoth finds were almost never made; In the municipality, however, the foundations of a Roman country estate ( villa rustica ) were discovered, which was probably connected with the Roman city of Cáparra . The region was overrun by the Arabs and their Moorish auxiliaries in the 8th century ; However, there is no archaeological evidence. The area around Hervás was occupied around 1200 by the Castilian - Leonese troops of Alfonso IX. (ruled 1188–1230) recaptured from the hands of the Moors ( reconquista ) , handed over to an order of knights and successively repopulated by Christians from the north and refugees from Al-Andalus ( repoblación ) . The Templar order was initially responsible for the place Abadía , but the non-military Cistercian order took over the sovereignty as early as 1260 . Since the middle of the 15th century, the place belonged to the manor (señorio) of the House of Alba .

Attractions

Inner courtyard of the Palacio de Sotofermoso

• The small parish church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán dates from the 15th to 17th centuries and is dedicated to St. Dominic . The portal-free and unadorned west side is dominated by an adjacent bell gable (espadaña) ; on the south side there is a covered porch ( portico ) with octagonal columns.

Surroundings

• The Palacio de Sotofermoso is only about 300 m northeast of the village ; This is the former Cistercian monastery, the building of which was taken over by the Dukes of Alba and converted into a palace. The cloister-like inner courtyard and the overgrown, but partially restored garden area are worth seeing .
• About two kilometers west of the village, a single-arched “ Roman bridge ” (puente romano) crosses the Río Ambroz. During the annual cattle migrations ( cañadas ) it served as a safe way to cross rivers .

Web links

Commons : Abadía  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Abadía, tourism site - photos + information (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ↑ Abadía - Climate tables
3. ↑ Abadía - Population Development
4. ↑ Abadía - History