El Barco de Ávila

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Municipality of El Barco de Ávila
El Barco de Ávila - View of town with castle (castillo)
El Barco de Ávila - View of town with castle (castillo)
coat of arms Map of Spain
Coat of arms of El Barco de Ávila
El Barco de Ávila (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Castile and Leon
Province : Ávila
Comarca : El Barco de Ávila-Piedrahíta
Coordinates 40 ° 21 ′  N , 5 ° 31 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 21 ′  N , 5 ° 31 ′  W
Height : 1009  msnm
Area : 12.68 km²
Residents : 2,312 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density : 182.33 inhabitants / km²
Postal code : 05600
Municipality number  ( INE ): 05021
administration
Website : El Barco de Ávila

El Barco de Ávila is a small town in western Spain and a municipality ( municipio ) with 2,312 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the province of Ávila in the autonomous community of Castile-León . The old town center was classified as a cultural asset ( Bien de Interés Cultural ) in the Conjunto histórico-artístico category.

Location and climate

The small town of El Barco de Ávila is located on a slight hill about 1000  m above the Río Tormes in the Sierra de Gredos, almost 85 km (driving distance) southwest of the provincial capital Ávila ; the city of Salamanca is about 90 km to the northwest. The neighboring town of Piedrahíta, which is also worth seeing, is only 21 km to the northeast. The climate is temperate; Rain (approx. 500 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year 1857 1900 1950 2000 2017
Residents 1,431 1,894 2,295 2,606 2,436

The continuous increase in population since the 1850s is essentially due to the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the associated loss of jobs in rural areas ( rural exodus ).

economy

Agriculture, especially cattle breeding, traditionally plays the largest role in the economic life of the mountain community, which in earlier times was also a regional center for handicrafts and trade for the hamlets and individual farms in the area. Income from tourism in the form of renting out holiday homes (casas rurales) has increased over the last few decades.

history

The first traces of settlement come from pre-Roman times ( Vettonen ); Roman and Visigoth traces have not yet been discovered. During the Islamic rule over large parts of the Iberian Peninsula , the area was depopulated; it was not repopulated ( repoblación ) until the 11th and 12th centuries . The manor Señorío de Valdecorneja , to which El Barco de Ávila also belonged, was possibly established as early as the 11th century . This came into the possession of the House of Álvarez de Toledo in the 15th century , from which the Dukes of Alba emerged in 1465 , who mainly resided in Alba de Tormes and Madrid . In 1833 the place came as part of a territorial reform from the province of Salamanca to the province of Avila.

Attractions

Arcade or column houses and Casa de Reloj in Plaza de España
Bridge over the Tormes with older (narrow) and newer (wider) arches
  • The Plaza de España , the main square, forms the actual center of the old town; it is surrounded by arcaded houses that protect visitors from both rain and excessive sunlight. The Casa de Reloj dates from the 18th century and was used for council meetings; it has a clock on the front and a bell on the roof.
  • The Church of the Assumption (Iglesia Mayor de la Asunción) is a Gothic building from the 13th / 14th centuries. Century, which incorporated a western tower still in the Romanesque style . On the south side, a multi-tiered archivolt portal leads into the three-aisled interior, which is spanned by simple four-part ribbed vaults; the three apses on the east side are separated from the nave by a wrought iron lattice (reja) in Renaissance style . The carved baroque altarpiece has two built-in windows and is framed by counter-rotating columns (also known as " Solomonic columns "). A rather simple panel from the 15th century with a depiction of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan hangs above a baptismal font (pila) .
  • The Castillo de Valdecorneja towers over the Río Tormes and dates from the 14th century in its current form; a Celtic fortress (castro) and a medieval castle were built over. It is a square building with round corner towers and a square keep (torre del homenaje) on the east side.
  • All that remains of the former city wall is a city gate with round towers on the sides.
  • An approximately 125 m long arched bridge (puente romano) leads over the Río Tormes, which is traced back to Roman origins in local tradition. However, today's bridge dates from medieval times and was later restored several times and in some cases provided with wide-span segment arches . The pillar heads pointing upstream are sharpened for better drainage of driftwood.

gastronomy

The Judión de Barco is a hearty bean stew with sausage and / or meat.

Web links

Commons : El Barco de Ávila  - 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. ↑ El Barco de Ávila - Climate tables
  3. ↑ El Barco de Ávila - population development
  4. ↑ El Barco de Ávila - History and sights