Caleruega

Caleruega municipality
Caleruega - Dominican convent and Dominic statue
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and Leon
Province :	Burgos
Comarca :	Ribera del Duero
Coordinates	41 ° 50 ′  N , 3 ° 29 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 50 ′  N , 3 ° 29 ′  W
Height :	950  msnm
Area :	47.63 km²
Residents :	423 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	8.88 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	09451
Municipality number  ( INE ):	09064
administration
Website :	Caleruega

Caleruega is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with 423 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the southeast of the province of Burgos in the autonomous region of Castile-León in northern Spain . It is located in the Ribera del Duero wine region .

Location and climate

The place Caleruega is located in the headwaters of the Río Gromejón in Old Castile at an altitude of approx. 950  m . The provincial capital Burgos is about 80 km (driving distance) in a north-westerly direction; the town of Aranda de Duero is about 26 km southwest. The climate in winter is harsh, but in summer it is temperate and warm; Rain (approx. 510 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	509	771	1.005	401	441

The mechanization of agriculture and the abandonment of small farms led to a significant decline in population in the second half of the 20th century.

economy

Agriculture, which also included some livestock (e.g. pigs, chickens), has always played the most important role for the community's population; Crafts, trade and service industries developed on a small scale in the village itself. While many villages in the area are becoming extinct due to migration, there has been a countermovement in Caleruega for a few years - the place has been modernized, a public swimming pool and a new hotel have been built. Several houses are now rented out as holiday apartments (casas rurales) .

history

The remains of a megalithic stone grave ( dolmen ) have been discovered in the municipality of Caleruega . Celtic , Roman , Visigoth and even Moorish traces are missing, however. The place was probably founded in the first half of the 10th century during the Reconquista period . It was a fortified settlement grouped around the manor house and the Torre de los Guzmanes . This tower and parts of the old Iglesia de San Sebastian are important witnesses of the founding years. Around the year 1068 King Alfonso VI handed over . the manorial rule (señorío) over Caleruega to the Guzmán family, from which also St. Dominic came. In the 16th century, the medieval church of Blessed Manés, a brother of Dominic, was replaced by a much larger one; the entire monastery was also rebuilt in the strict Herrera style .

Attractions

Iglesia de San Sebastian

• The center of the city is the huge building complex of the Dominican monastery. In 1266, King Alfonso had the Guzman estate and its tower converted into a Dominican convent and settled by nuns from San Esteban de Gormaz . This monastery formed an important base of the order until its dissolution as part of the disamortization (1835); in 1868 it was revived at the instigation of the then Queen Isabella II and placed under royal protection as the Real Monasterio . The monastery houses the largest collection of Dominican scriptures and a museum. The two churches of the monastery complex date from the 13th and 16th centuries.
• The single-aisled Iglesia de San Sebastián , built mostly from rubble stones , is largely Romanesque . The portal on the south side, which protrudes slightly from the line of the wall and is constructed from precisely hewn stones, is particularly worth seeing. Dominikus was baptized in the baptismal font that was formerly in the church .

Personalities

• Domingo de Guzman (around 1170–1221), founder of the Dominican Order

Web links

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

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. ↑ Caleruega - climate tables
3. ↑ Caleruega - population development
4. ↑ Caleruega - History
5. ↑ Caleruega - Monastery
6. ↑ Caleruega - Monastery