Feat

Proaza is a council of the autonomous community of the Principality of Asturias. It limits to the north with Santo Adriano and Grado, to the south with Teverga and Quirós, to the west with Yernes and Tameza and Teverga and to the east with Quirós.

History

View of the Torre de los González Tuñón

Proaza City Council.

Appleno in flower.

Bear brown.

Bandujo

In Proaza, individual finds have been found that take us back to the Paleolithic era. Within these findings we have materials related to the construction of lithic instruments and found in Samartín, Los Teyeros and Castrillón. Flakes and cores have also been found at Bustiellu, Caranga d'Arriba and Valdearenas. Near the capital, in La cueva remains of carvings and plates associated with bone remains appear. Finally, it is worth noting the five burial mounds found in the council, in Lake Barreda, in the port of Sograndio, in Ranón, in La Cruz and in the Canal Seca pass.

Several settlements from the military building were found in L´Arbeal, Serande, El Picu´El Castiellu, El Picu´Castru and Bustiellu. What we cannot affirm about all of them is the stage to which they correspond, being able to be from pre-Roman or Roman times. Of clear Roman reminiscence was the discovery of a bronze ace found in Bandujo.

In medieval times, Proaza was on the main communication route between central Asturias and the plateau, so the Trubia valleys had been dotted since the Middle Ages with castles and defensive towers that attest to its strategic importance. Four of them are currently preserved in the council of Proaza: the Vázquez de Prada House, the González-Tuñon Tower, the Tuñón Tower in Bandujo, the Tuñon Tower. The paths chosen for the journey were through the Camín de la Mesa, of which sections of the old road are still preserved, and through Quirós crossing the Port of Ventana. In addition, several medieval towers still survive in the council, proving the strategic location of the territory. The bridge that connects the Villanueva neighborhoods located on both sides of the river is also from medieval times.

From the period of the Asturian Monarchy, it is believed that Proaza was the land where the Muslim Governor Munuza died when he was making his escape towards the plateau through La Mesa, suffering an ambush in Olalíes, where it is thought that he lost his life.

The first documented news referring to land belonging to the council appear during the medieval period, when there were numerous donations of land in the area such as that of 863 in which the lands of Uandugio were donated, < i>Pruazia and Charanga.

Of special mention is the event that occurred with the uprising of Count Gonzalo Peláez against Alfonso VII and who resisted two years in the castle of Proaza, being defeated in 1135. Like many other Asturian councils, Proaza belonged to the Asturian bishopric, although here Movements developed against this ecclesiastical domination, being noteworthy the events that occurred during the times of Enrique II, where the people protested clearly. This situation lasted until 1581, when, thanks to the confiscation carried out by Felipe II, Proaza became independent from the Church, constituting a town hall on July 16 of that year, leaving the stately estates of Llendelafaya and Llinares that would be incorporated in 1827. Proaza thus entered the General Meeting of the Principality.

Other examples of civil architecture from the 17th and 18th centuries are the Palace of the González Tuñón in Proaza, the Palace of Proacina and the House of the García Argüelles, the House of the German and the Palace in Villamejín. In 1812, an independent town council was created in Proaza, definitively joining Proaza together with the parish of Caranga, which depended on Santo Adriano, on June 16, 1859.

In the XX century, Proaza continued to be a transit point for the railway that linked the Quirós mines with the Trubia factory and coal from Teverga. Important for the life of the council was also the construction of the power plant in the sixties that energized the economic life of the area.

Geography

The mountainous area into which the council enters is formed by a series of highly developed ridges and perpendicular to the Cantabrian mountain range, the Trubia river making its way between them that draws beautiful meadows on its way. In this way, an orography with great differences is originated in which we can observe gentle meadows and steep slopes. More than 60% of the terrain has an altitude greater than 400 meters, with 34% being the proportion that exceeds 800 meters. Likewise, it should be noted that half of the surface of the council has a slope greater than 50%. Among the mountainous systems of the council we will highlight La Peña Sobia in the south, which contains the maximum altitude with 1,489 meters, the foothills of Aramo to the east giving as the most outstanding heights the picu Cuornu with 1,169 meters, the Picu Forcada with 1,111 meters and the from La Verde with 1,177 meters. To the west we find the Sierra de Tameza, its most important peaks being Oubio with 1,363 m, Picupelau with 1,354 m, Pegaruces with 1,161 m, and Pedregal with 1,120 meters. At the bottom of the Trubia valley there are two fertile plains located between 200 and 400 meters: Caranga and Proaza.

Hydrography

Its main river is the Trubia river, already mentioned above, and it is the main fluvial accident of the council. It forms a beautiful valley during its journey and sometimes fits into impossible cuts, highlighting that of Penaxuntas, giving rise to incredible gorges. Other important rivers are the Murias, the Villamexín, the Serandi and the Sama, which is the only one that does not flow into the Trubia.

Climate

Such singular relief causes climatic diversities with respect to the area in which we find ourselves, either in the upper areas of the council or in its valleys, the weather being more benevolent in these latter areas, with milder winters and hot and dry summers. The abundance of fog is also notable in the lower area. According to the data in the table below and the criteria of the modified Köppen climate classification Proaza has an oceanic climate of the Cfb type (temperate without dry season).

Average weather parameters of Proaza in the period 1969-2003
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	6.9	8.3	10.3	11.6	14.5	17.8	20.3	20.5	18.6	14.7	10.1	7.5	13.4
Total precipitation (mm)	93.1	85.4	81.4	107.5	98.0	53.9	46.9	50.5	62.8	92.3	115.7	103.8	991.2
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. Precipitation data for the period 1969-2003 and temperature for the period 1969-2003 in Proaza

Vegetation

As for its vegetation, there are also differences depending on whether we are in shady areas where oak and chestnut forests predominate, or sunny areas where there are holm oaks, alders, ash trees, willows, and elms. There are also crops of fruit trees such as apples and hazelnuts, being the Proaza apple of very good quality for the production of a product so typical and characteristic of our region such as cider.

Parishes

The council of Proaza is divided into 8 parishes:

Demographic evolution

Proaza Demographic Evolution Graphic between 1842 and 2010

The demographic evolution in the council has suffered a serious setback since the middle of the XX century, in which there is a decrease continuous and constant increase in the population until reaching the current 795 inhabitants. Since it reached its historical maximum with 3,566 inhabitants in 1900, this figure remained more or less equal until the 1950s, when the vicinity of the region's industrial centers, especially Oviedo, accelerated the depopulation process, giving rise to Currently an inverted population pyramid where the majority of the population is over 50 years of age. Of all the nuclei of the council, the capital has been, without a doubt, the one that has suffered least throughout this involutive process, leaving small towns practically deserted.

Economy

Within the economic activity of the municipality, it should be noted how the primary, determining and majority sector in the life of Proaza has been losing weight over the years for a long time, although even today it continues to be the majority sector of the council population, generating a total of 55.6% of local jobs. Livestock is the main activity that is worked, being the cattle cabin with a double mixed meat-dairy orientation the predominant one.

The secondary and construction sectors employ a total of 14.07% of the active population.

The tertiary service sector, here represents 30.33% of local jobs. It is noteworthy, however, the opening of the bear route, which can relaunch tourism in the area a bit.

Politics

In the council of Proaza, since 1979, the PSOE has been the party that has won the mayoralty the most times, ruling in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th legislatures; being the current mayor Ramón Fernández García (See List of Mayors of Proaza).

Art

Arroyo de las Xanas, in the parade of the same name

Proacina

Among the architectural works of the council, we highlight the medieval tower of Proaza, a medieval building of a military nature of which the remains of a cylindrical tower, built with ashlar stone, four stories high, remain. In them you can see the holes drilled in its thick walls. The entrance that was located on the second floor was accessed by means of a drawbridge, arrow slits and somewhat pointed windows. The entrance door located on the lower floor seems to have been opened in a later period. This tower has been a Provincial Monument since 1965.

The Bandujo tower is also worth mentioning, built based on ashlar for the wall and better worked ashlars and of great proportions for the openings; with a roof that presents a slightly overhanging cornice. The openings are very few and open asymmetrically. They are reduced to a few small loopholes with internal spillage, extremely narrow, and a window placed in the upper part, also of very small dimensions. At the top and protected by a large duster, there is a shield with the arms of Tuñón mixed with those of the Álvarez de Bandujo and Miranda family.

Another of the medieval towers is preserved in the house of Prada, Located on the banks of the Trubia, on the border with Santo Adriano, it has suffered serious deterioration over the years. The primitive structure that could be dated around the XVI century was made up of two towers with a quadrangular base joined by a central body with a gallery; a corridor communicated the main nucleus with the chapel. Today only one of the towers can be seen, made of ashlar, covered on four sides with a small cornice, and in which we can see later remodeling that is far from its initial appearance.

Among the religious buildings we have the parish church of Santa María de Bandujo, with a Romanesque foundation, although it has undergone multiple reforms. The church preserves from its primitive Romanesque construction only part of the single nave and the presbytery, semicircular on the outside, with corbels, and square on the inside, covered with a barrel vault.

We will also name the chapel of San Mamés in Caranga, which has a single rectangular body with a flared lintelled window with an internal opening on the left wall and a circular opening with an internal and external opening on the opposite wall. The interior is covered with a two-sided wooden roof. In front of the door, there is a portico with a three-sided roof, supported by four wooden pillars that rest on a high basement, made of masonry, the ashlars reserving the corner chains, the openings and the belfry with a semicircular arch and a single hole that finishes the construction.

From the palatial construction we will highlight the Proacina palace, which clearly adapts to the topography since it has only one floor on the rear façade, while the main one has three floors. On this front there are lintelled openings, windows on the two lower floors and balconies with an iron balustrade on a rectangular shelf on the upper one, placed symmetrically. On one of the lateral facades, on the upper floor there is a closed and glazed wooden gallery, typical of popular architecture.

Another important palace is that of Bernardo Terrero in Villamejin, with a quadrangular plan that includes a tower from the XVI century Also with a square base located at the side of the main façade flanked by two shorter bodies. The building is popular, using only ashlars for openings and corners; It has undergone numerous renovations since its foundation up to the present moment.

Finally, we will talk about a modern building that changed the life of the council, such as the hydroelectric power station, the work of Joaquín Vaquero Palacios, built in the 60s. It has a single volume with a rectangular floor plan and a flat roof; built of concrete and with very geometric lines, it overcomes the monotony of the main façade by attaching triangular modules with the sharp vertices pointing upwards that give it slenderness and subtract the sensation of horizontality that could predominate in the construction due to its low height in relation to with the length; the shorter side façade is decorated with geometric figures in high relief. It is a building that combines functionality and aesthetic taste

Parties

• Gastronomic Festival of the Nabos in Proaza
• February: Fairs of La Candela and San Blas in Proaza.
• September: are the feasts of The Christ of Mercy in Proaza, Our Lady in Bandujo, the Romery of Our Lady of Remedies in Caranga and that of San Antonio in Villamejín.

The council has numerous festivals spread throughout all the towns in which tradition is present in all of them. On the other hand, they are festivals with a great gastronomic presence of local products, highlighting the good quality of its sausages, the famous pot of turnips and the typical Easter buns. Its livestock fairs are also important for the council, being one of the busiest in the entire central region.