El Mirón

Municipality of El Mirón
El Mirón - town view
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and Leon
Province :	Ávila
Comarca :	El Barco de Ávila-Piedrahíta
Coordinates	40 ° 32 ′  N , 5 ° 24 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 32 ′  N , 5 ° 24 ′  W
Height :	1235  msnm
Area :	31.08 km²
Residents :	122 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	3.93 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	05154
Municipality number  ( INE ):	05129
administration
Website :	El Mirón

El Mirón is a mountain village in central Spain and a municipality ( municipio ) with a total of 122 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the southwest of the province of Ávila in the autonomous community of Castile-León . The hamlet (pedanía) Aldealabad del Mirón also belongs to the municipality .

Location and climate

The place El Mirón is located on the north side of the almost 2600 m high Sierra de Gredos at an altitude of approx. 1235  m . The provincial capital Ávila is about 80 km (driving distance) to the south; the nearby small town of Piedrahíta is only 15 km to the south-east. The climate in winter is cool, in summer it is quite warm despite the altitude; Precipitation - sometimes in the form of snow - (approx. 525 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	468	590	786	248	124

The enormous population decline ( rural exodus ) that has been observed since the middle of the 20th century is mainly due to the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the associated loss of jobs.

economy

Agriculture (especially cattle breeding) has traditionally played the most important role in the community's formerly self-sufficient economy. Sheep wool used to be spun and woven in the winter months. Since the last decades of the 20th century, income from tourism has been added in the form of renting holiday apartments (casas rurales) .

history

In the first millennium BC The municipality belonged to the settlement area of ​​the Celtic Vettons . Roman , Visigoth and even Arabic-Moorish traces are missing. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the region was probably recaptured by the Leonese kings more or less without a fight ( reconquista ) and then repopulated ( repoblación ) .

El Mirón - Castillo

Attractions

• Although the walled castle is sometimes also called Castillo de los Moros ("Maurenburg"), its masonry made of regular layers of stone clearly indicates a Christian-medieval origin.
• The church of San Pedro Apóstol is a three-aisled building made of precisely hewn stones from the 16th century. It has a column-supported vestibule ( portico ) on the north side. The three naves are covered by a partially painted artesonado ceiling; in the east there are three imposing baroque carved altars.
• A court column (roller blind) with a cross-shaped capital that extends in all four directions is located on the south side of the church.

Web links

Commons : El Mirón  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• El Mirón - photos + brief information

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 Mirón - climate tables
3. ↑ El Mirón - Population Development
4. ↑ El Mirón - Castle
5. ↑ El Mirón - Church