Padrón

Padrón municipality
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Galicia
Province :	A Coruña
Comarca :	O Sar
Coordinates	42 ° 44 ′ N , 8 ° 40 ′ W Coordinates: 42 ° 44 ′ N , 8 ° 40 ′ W
Area :	48.5 km²
Residents :	8,384 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	172.87 inh / km²
Municipality number ( INE ):	15065
administration
Mayor :	Camilo Forján Seoane ( PSOE )
Website :	www.padron.gal
Location of the municipality

Padrón ( formerly Iria Flavia ) is a municipality in the Spanish province of A Coruña in the autonomous community of Galicia .

Church in Padrón

history

The city's name comes from Pedrón , a Roman milestone on the banks of the Ria , on which, according to legend, the ship that carried the body of the Apostle James moored . This pedrón is now in the Padróns Church.

There, in the church of Santiago Apóstol , you can also see old stone inscriptions about the legend of the saints and the reconstruction of the church commissioned by Archbishop Gelmirez.

After the remains of the apostle had been transferred to Santiago de Compostela , Padrón became the starting point of the pilgrimage for the pilgrims arriving by sea. It turned into a target for raids by Vikings and Normans at the same time in the 10th and 11th centuries . Therefore, at the beginning of the 11th century, Alfonso V had the defensive fortification of Torres do Oeste , the old Roman Castellum honesti, reconstructed, which helped the city to calm and prosper during the 12th and 13th centuries.

Archbishop Gelmírez , who was born in this same Torres do Oeste, was a promoter of that prosperity. He had a quay built on the bank of the Sar , so that Padrón had a port, which silted up in the 17th century. The first galleys of the Spanish Navy were once launched where the Santiago Church stands today . Another archbishop, Rodrígo de Luna , spent two months in Padrón in the 15th century, hiding here with the entire Compostelan cathedral chapter, seeking protection from the Counts of Altamira.

Population development of the municipality

Source: INE archive - graphic processing for Wikipedia

Personalities who worked in Padrón

Statue of Rosalía de Castro in Padrón.

Padrón is associated with the names of important figures in Galician literature such as Macías el Enamorado , Juan Rodríguez de Padrón , Camilo José Cela or Rosalía de Castro . She spent the last years of her life in the house La Matanza on the outskirts, which was converted into a museum for her.