El Far d'Empordà

Municipality of El Far d'Empordà
El Far d'Empordà - Església Sant Martí
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Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Catalonia
Province :	Girona
Comarca :	Alt Empordà
Coordinates	42 ° 15 ′  N , 3 ° 0 ′  E Coordinates: 42 ° 15 ′  N , 3 ° 0 ′  E
Height :	44  msnm
Area :	9.19 km²
Residents :	599 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	65.18 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	17469
Municipality number  ( INE ):	17005
Official language :	Castilian , Catalan

El Far d'Empordà (Spanish: Alfar ) is a place and a municipality ( municipi ) with 599 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the province of Girona in the autonomous region of Catalonia . It is located in the Comarca Alt Empordà .

location

The place El Far d'Empordà is at an altitude of about 45  m above sea level. d. M. The city of Figueres is about six kilometers (driving distance) southeast and the provincial capital Girona is about 40 kilometers to the south. The hamlet of L'Oliva with around 80 inhabitants also belongs to the municipality .

Population development

year	1960	1970	1981	1990	2000	2014
Residents	438	547	463	413	387	563

In the 19th century the community usually had over 300 inhabitants; the phylloxera crisis in viticulture and the mechanization of agriculture had little impact on the population.

economy

Above all, agriculture (grain, sunflowers, etc.), but also keeping cattle and poultry in stalls, form the livelihood of the inhabitants. Since the 1960s, tourism has developed into an important source of income in the form of vacation rental.

history

The first mention of the place name Farus comes from the year 844. In the High Middle Ages, El Far or Alfar belonged to the county of Empúries ; Count Ponç V d'Empúries ordered the construction of a castle ( castell ) in 1299 and the fortified church of Sant Martí was also built at that time.

Attractions

• The parish church of Sant Martí is a building in the transition style from Romanesque to Gothic . The west façade with its unadorned portal, its integrated bell - room and the final, wide- arched defensive bay window as well as the donjon-like tower above the square apse convey a decidedly defensive impression. Only the frame zone of the west window shows small decorative motifs such as rosettes and pine cones as well as a tooth-cut frieze . The two door leaves of the west portal probably still have their medieval door fittings made of spirally twisted iron strips (cf. the portal of the church of Navata ). The approximately ten meter high nave is vaulted by a pointed barrel with belt arch girders.
• In the immediate vicinity of the church are the sparse remains of the fort, which was only destroyed in the 19th century. One of the towers served as a watchtower against attacks by Moorish pirates .

literature

• Vicenç Buron: Esglésies Romàniques Catalanes. Artestudi Edicions, Barcelona 1977, p. 33, ISBN 84-85180-06-2 .

Web links

Commons : El Far d'Empordà  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• El Far d'Empordà, Church of Sant Martí - Photos + information (Catalan)
• El Far d'Empordà, Church of Sant Martí - photo + info (Catalan)

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).