Peñalba de Santiago
| Ponferrada municipality: Peñalba de Santiago | |||
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 Peñalba de Santiago - View over the town
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| coat of arms | Map of Spain | ||
 Help on coat of arms |
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| Basic data | |||
| Autonomous Community : | Castile and Leon | ||
| Province : | Leon | ||
| Comarca : | El Bierzo | ||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 26 ′ N , 6 ° 32 ′ W | ||
| Height : | 1103 msnm | ||
| Residents : | 16 (2014) INE | ||
| Postal code : | 24400 | ||
| Area code: | 24115001901 | ||
Peñalba de Santiago is a northern Spanish town with about 20 inhabitants in the municipality ( municipio ) of Ponferrada in the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León . The place was recognized in 1976 as a national cultural asset ( Bien de Interés Cultural in the category Conjunto histórico-artístico ).
location
The place Peñalba de Santiago is at an altitude of about 1100 meters above sea level. d. M. The distance to Ponferrada is about 14 kilometers (driving distance) to the north. Truchas is located in the south of the Montes de León (driving distance 46 kilometers).
Population development
| year | 2000 | 2010 | 2014 |
| Residents | 27 | 20th | 16 |
In the 19th century the population of the municipality was mostly around 100 people. Most of the residents have died or emigrated, but some wealthy new settlers have bought a holiday home or retirement home here.
economy
For centuries, the residents of the community have been living mainly on self-sufficiency from agriculture and, above all, from livestock. In the last decades of the 20th century tourism was added as a source of income; the place has spruced up and some of the vacant houses are rented out as holiday apartments ( casas rurales ).
history
Little is known about the history of the high-altitude, but perhaps already populated place in the 10th century; Its story probably begins with the settlement of a small monastic community from the south of the Iberian Peninsula ( Mozarabers ), who built a church here with echoes of the style of their homeland .
Attractions
- The place itself with its quarry stone houses - almost windowless in earlier times, but enriched by wooden balconies - is an extraordinary testimony to the architecture in the mountains of León.
- The one-aisled church of Santiago de Peñalba , also built from rubble stones, is James the Elder. Ä. , The patron saint of recapture ( reconquista ) of Spain, dedicated. The north portal, framed by two monolithic columns and divided into two by a central column, as well as the apse , which is square on the outside but semicircular on the inside , are among the small masterpieces of Spanish architecture with their horseshoe arches.
Web links
- Peñalba de Santiago - Photos + Info (Spanish)
- Peñalba de Santiago - Photos + Info (Spanish)
- Peñalba de Santiago - Photos + Quick Facts (Spanish)