Belver de los Montes

Belver de los Montes municipality
Belver de los Montes - City Hall in the former monastery church of San Salvador
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Zamora
Comarca :	Tierra de Campos
Coordinates	41 ° 43 ′  N , 5 ° 27 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 43 ′  N , 5 ° 27 ′  W
Height :	695  msnm
Area :	68.55 km²
Residents :	275 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.01 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	49830
Municipality number  ( INE ):	49020
administration
Website :	Belver de los Montes

Belver de los Montes is a northern Spanish city and a municipality ( municipio ) with 275 inhabitants (at January 1, 2019) in the eastern province of Zamora of the Autonomous Community of Castile and Leon .

location

The place Belver de los Montes is located on the Río Sequillo in the Comarca Tierra de Campos in the Castilian plateau at an altitude of about 695 m above sea level. d. M. The provincial capital Zamora is a good 44 km (driving distance) southwest; the historically significant small town of Villalpando is only 11 km to the north. The climate in winter is quite cold, but in summer it is warm to hot; the sparse rainfalls (approx. 380 mm / year) fall throughout the year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2016
Residents	1,047	1.311	1,387	473	307

The significant population decline in the second half of the 20th century is mainly due to the mechanization of agriculture and the associated loss of jobs.

economy

The farming on the fertile clay and loess soils of the Tierra de Campos and the keeping of small livestock (especially chickens) formed the livelihood of the self-sufficient population of the region for centuries ; Horses and donkeys were kept as draft and pack animals. Since the Middle Ages, handicrafts, retail trade and service companies of all kinds have developed, but these have mostly disappeared again.

history

In pre-Roman times the region belonged to the settlement area of ​​the Celtic tribe of the Vaccaeans ; Later came the Romans and Visigoths and in the 8th century the area was overrun by the Moors - however, all four cultures left only a few archaeologically usable traces in the formerly possibly forested area. Already in the 9th century Asturian-Leonese army conquered the areas north of the Duero back ( reconquista ) . At the end of the 10th century, the Moorish military leader Almansor temporarily wiped out the Christian successes, but in the 11th century the Kingdom of León extended its territory again to the Duero border and pursued a policy of repopulation ( repoblación ). After previous attempts, León finally united with the Kingdom of Castile in 1230 , but disputes occurred again and again in the period that followed. The place experienced its heyday in the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period.

Attractions

• The parish church ( Iglesia de Santa María ) , built entirely of bricks in the Mudéjar tradition with the exception of the foundations, dates back to the 13th century; however, the apse area was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century and the bell gable is also likely to be more recent. The main altar, created in the 16th century, contains 19 panel paintings with scenes from the life of Mary .
• With the exception of parts of the apse and the base zone, the former monastery church of San Salvador , built almost entirely of bricks, was in a poor structural condition for several decades. After a fundamental renovation (construction costs approx. 600,000 €), it has housed the local town hall ( casa consistorial ) and a medical advice center ( consultorio médico ) since 2009 .
• A small folklore museum ( museo etnográfico ) with exhibits from around 1900 is housed in an outbuilding.

Web links

Commons : Belver de los Montes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Belver de los Montes, history and monuments - photo + quick facts (Spanish)
• Belver de los Montes, sights - photos + brief 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. ↑ Belver de los Montes - Map with altitude information
3. ↑ Belver de los Montes - climate tables
4. ↑ Belver de los Montes - population development