Vilamacolum

Vilamacolum municipality
Vilamacolum - Santa Maria Church
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Catalonia
Province :	Girona
Comarca :	Alt Empordà
Coordinates	42 ° 12 '  N , 3 ° 3'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 12 '  N , 3 ° 3'  E
Height :	5  msnm
Area :	5.64 km²
Residents :	348 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	61.7 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	17474
Municipality number  ( INE ):	17225
administration
Official language :	Castilian , Catalan
Website :	Vilamacolum

Vilamacolum is a place and a municipality ( municipi ) with 348 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 Vilamacolum is only about five kilometers from the northern Spanish Mediterranean coast at a height of only 5 meters above sea level. d. M. The city of Figueres is about 13 kilometers (driving distance) to the northwest and the provincial capital Girona is 41 kilometers to the southwest.

Population development

year	1960	1970	1981	1990	2000	2014
Residents	357	315	284	264	281	307

In the 19th century the community even had over 400 inhabitants at times. The phylloxera crisis in viticulture and the mechanization of agriculture had little impact on the population.

economy

Above all, agriculture (grain, sunflowers, etc.) forms the livelihood of the residents. 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 comes from the year 974; In the High Middle Ages, Vilamacolum belonged to the county of Empúries , but the monasteries of Sant Pere de Rodes and Sant Esteve de Banyoles also owned property here .

Attractions

Church from the southeast

The parish church of Santa Maria stands about 150 meters outside the village center and is an unadorned Romanesque building from the 12th or early 13th century; The choir bay and apse are sometimes dated to the 11th century, but the stones are quite precisely carved. The block-like west facade with an unusual, upwardly open bell gable ( espadanya ) is impressive, which resembles the neighboring churches of Torroella de Fluvià and Vilamalla in its defensive, austere expressiveness ; However, a protective gable roof was added to the bell gable of the church of Vilamacolum during the last restoration. The outer walls of the nave were raised in the 15th century and a chapel was added on the south side; the portal of the church dates from the 18th century.

literature

• Vicenç Buron: Esglésies Romàniques Catalanes. Artestudi Edicions, Barcelona, ISBN 84-85180-06-2 , p. 39f.

Web links

Commons : Vilamacolum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Vilamacolum, church - photo + short information (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).