Almarza de Cameros

Almarza de Cameros municipality
	Almarza de Cameros - town view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	La Rioja
Province :	La Rioja
Comarca :	Camero Nuevo
Coordinates	42 ° 13 ′ N , 2 ° 36 ′ W Coordinates: 42 ° 13 ′ N , 2 ° 36 ′ W
Height :	1060 msnm
Area :	28.11 km²
Residents :	36 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	1.28 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	26111
Municipality number ( INE ):	26012
administration
Website :	Almarza de Cameros

Almarza de Cameros is a mountain town and a municipality ( municipio ) belonging to the poorly populated region of the Serranía Celtibérica with a total of only 36 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the autonomous community of La Rioja in northern Spain .

Location and climate

The place Almarza de Cameros is located in a side valley of the Río Iregua a good 41 km (driving distance) southwest of the provincial capital Logroño at an altitude of about 1060 m . The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 635 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	1995	2018
Residents	261	269	154	39	28

As a result of the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting lower demand for labor, the number of inhabitants has declined significantly since the middle of the 20th century.

economy

For centuries, the community was agriculturally oriented for the purpose of self-sufficiency , with livestock farming (milk, cheese, meat, sausage) in the foreground. In addition, clothes were made from the sheep's wool shorn in the spring . Today holiday apartments (casas rurales) are rented out, especially in summer . The hamlet (pedanía) Ribavellosa , which belongs to the municipality and had 3 inhabitants in 2010, has since been abandoned.

history

Celtiberian , Roman , Visigoth and even Islamic-Moorish traces of settlement were not discovered in the municipality. The high-lying area served as summer pasture for sheep and goats for centuries . A military reconquest ( reconquista ) by the Christians did not take place, but the place was gradually settled as part of the Repoblación . In the Middle Ages, the region was disputed between the kingdoms of Castile and the Kingdom of Navarre . In 1366 Heinrich von Tratamara handed over 40 villages in the area of the Tierra de Cameros to his faithful Juan de Arellano, whose descendants ruled the area for a long time. After the abolition of the manorial system in 1811, it came to the old Castilian province of Soria and in 1822 to the newly created province of Logroño , from which the La Rioja region later emerged.

Attractions

Ermita de Santiago

The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Campillo , built in the 16th century - with the exception of the corner stones - from rough rubble stones was built on the site of a previous Romanesque church , of which the baptismal font (pila bautismal) has been preserved. There are several grave slabs in the floor of the church .