Contreras (Burgos)

Contreras municipality
Contreras - the townscape with the Ermita de San Roque and the baroque statue of St. Andrew
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Help on coat of arms
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and Leon
Province :	Burgos
Comarca :	Arlanza (Comarca)
Coordinates	42 ° 1 ′  N , 3 ° 25 ′  W Coordinates: 42 ° 1 ′  N , 3 ° 25 ′  W
Height :	1030  msnm
Area :	38.12 km²
Residents :	77 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	2.02 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	09613
Municipality number  ( INE ):	09110
administration
Website :	Contreras

Contreras is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) belonging to the poorly populated Serranía Celtibérica with 77 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the Spanish province of Burgos in the autonomous region of Castile-León .

Location and climate

The place Contreras lies between two streams that flow into the Río Arlanza at an altitude of about 1030  m . The provincial capital Burgos is about 58 km to the north-west; the small but worth seeing town of Covarrubias is only about 14 km northwest. Place and monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos are only about 8 km south. Despite the altitude, the climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 555 mm / year) falls over the year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2018
Residents	574	600	518	119	80

The mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting lower demand for labor have led to a significant decline in the number of inhabitants since the middle of the 20th century ( rural exodus ).

economy

The place was and is largely agricultural, with cattle breeding and dairy farming dominating; wheat and barley are grown in some fields in the area. Since the middle of the 20th century, tourism has been an important source of income for the municipality, which is generally regarded as a summer resort .

history

Little information is available from the Celtiberian , Roman , Visigothic and Moorish times. In the 10th century, Count Fernán González († 970) seized the area around Covarrubias and thus laid the foundation stone for the independent county of Castile from the Kingdom of León ; These successes from the early phase of the reconquest ( reconquista ) were temporarily nullified again at the end of the 10th century by the Muslim general Almansor († 1002). In the 11th century calm returned and so the place was gradually repopulated or repopulated ( repoblación ) . In the 12th and 13th centuries, however, the territorial dispute with the neighboring kingdom of Navarre intensified due to the Castilian successes .

Attractions

Maria Himmelfahrtskirche

• The single nave, but with a transept , Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and mostly dates from the 15th and 16th centuries. Century; the classicistic south portal bears the date 1860. In the star-vaulted interior there is a Romanesque font with a diamond band decoration from the previous building as well as several baroque carved altars (retablos) .
• In the middle of the village are the small Ermita de San Roque and a bundle pillar with a statue of the Apostle Andrew .

Surroundings

• Remains of the walls of a Celtiberian high fortress (castrum) can still be seen on the approx. 1458 m high Pico San Carlos .
• Several fortress ruins from the time after the Reconquista have been preserved.

Others

In 1966 Sergio Leone shot some scenes from his film Two Glorious Scoundrels in the vicinity of the town . The Sad Hill film cemetery, located approx. 3.5 km south of the village, has now been cleared of vegetation and partially restored; it should be preserved as a tourist attraction.

Web links

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

• Contreras - photos + short information (wikiburgos, spanish)
• Contreras - Video (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. ↑ Contreras - climate tables
3. ↑ Contreras - Population Development
4. ↑ Contreras - Fortaleza de Carazo