Mondonedo

Mondoñedo is a Spanish municipality and town in the north of the province of Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Located in the region of La Mariña Central, of which it is the capital, the municipal area has a population of 3,503 inhabitants (INE 2022).

Symbols

The heraldic shield and the flag that represent the municipality were officially rehabilitated on December 9, 1999. The coat of arms is as follows:

"De gules (red), the golden chalice (yellow), added to the Sacred Shape of silver (white) and accompanied by seven crosses of the same, three on each flank and one on the tip, this flanked of the letters M and O of gold. To the bell, royal crown closed. »

Diario Oficial de Galicia no 250 de 29 de diciembre de 1999

The heraldic description of the flag is as follows:

"On a red cloth, the yellow chalice, added to the sacred form of white and accompanied by six crossings also of white, three to the asta and three to the batiente. »

Diario Oficial de Galicia no 250 de 29 de diciembre de 1999

Geography

It is the capital of the region of La Mariña Central. The municipality of Mondoñedo is located in the northern half of the province of Lugo; It borders on the north with the municipalities of Alfoz and Foz, on the south with Pastoriza and Riotorto, on the east with Lorenzana and on the west with Abadín. The population of Mondoñedo is distributed throughout the 15 parishes that make up the council.

Among the rivers in the area are the Masma, the Valiñadares and the Tronceda.

It is the headquarters of the judicial district no. 1 of the province of Lugo. Mondoñedo has an episcopal see shared with Ferrol, although the bishop resides in the latter. It was the capital of one of the seven historical Galician provinces until 1833.

Location

Northwest: Alfoz	North: Foz	Northeast: Lorenzana
West: Alfoz and Abadín		This: Lorenzana
Southwest: Abbot	South: Pastoriza	Sureste: Riotorto

Toponymy

The place name Mondoñedo probably comes from the pre-Indo-European term *mund (meaning 'mountain'), plus the Celtic form onna (' fuente' or 'río', as in Oñate, Santoña or Garona) with the addition of the reinforcing suffix -etu, which would correspond to the abundance of rivers and springs in the area. Romanization, it acquired the name of Mindunietum.

History

Bridge of the pastime.

In Gallaecia, an area with equally strong Celtic background, there was British immigration in the Mondoñedo area, which continued during the existence of the Suevian kingdom. Precisely the episcopal see of said name is the direct heir of the see known as Britonia or Bretoña, which was the British bishopric during the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo. Finally these populations, like the Galician Celts before, lost their own language and became Latinized.

The first express mention of Mondoñedo is from 1112: Urraca I de León transferred the Episcopal See of San Martiño de Mondoñedo to Vilamaior do Val de Brea, or Valibria, the current Mondoñedo. In 1156 Alfonso VII of León granted it the category of city. The Episcopal Headquarters moved to Ribadeo between 1182 and 1230 to promote the settlement of this village.

The most notorious episode in the ancient history of Mondoñedo was the beheading of Marshal Pardo de Cela. Accused of treason and imprisoned in his castle at Frouxeira, his wife obtained a pardon from Queen Isabella the Catholic, but the enemies of the Marshal detained the bearers of the royal pardon on the Pasatiempo bridge at the precise time for him to be executed..

The town of Mindo was the capital of the province of Mondoñedo, one of the seven historical Galician provinces until the territorial division of Spain in 1833 by Javier de Burgos, which since then has hardly undergone any changes.

Demographics

The city has a population of 4,603 inhabitants, a population density of 32.27 inhab./km², and an area of 142.7 km².

The demographic evolution of the council shows a demographic loss since the beginning of the XX century. From the 1900s to the 1940s, the decennial censuses showed a progressive decrease in the Mendonian population, until a certain recovery took place linked to the end of the Civil War (1936-1939), starting again the population decline to this day. The consequence of this decrease in the population is due to the vegetative growth of a negative sign and emigration.

Parade at the medieval fair in Mondoñedo

However, in recent years, the increase in the birth rate and the increasing arrival of immigrants to the city augur, at least, a stabilization of the situation. In Mondoñedo, currently, the birth rate is increasing. If until the end of the XX century the index decreased over the years, from 2001 onwards an important upward trend began. In a single five-year period, almost doubled the birth rates obtained in the year 2000.

Another important factor when talking about demographic trends is immigration. In recent years, the number of people arriving in the municipality from outside Spain has grown considerably. Immigrants, largely African and American, come to work mostly in the construction sector. If in 1996 only 11 foreigners resided in Mondoñedo, a situation that was maintained until 1999, the data from the last census confirm a considerable increase. In 2006 there were already 136 foreigners in the city, of which 36 had come from Africa and 55 from America.

Territorial organization

The municipality is made up of one hundred and five population entities distributed in fourteen parishes:

Heritage

Cathedral of Mondoñedo

The old part of the city, declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 1985, has as its center the Plaza de la Catedral, a national monument built in the 18th century XIII and where all the streets of the town converge in 2015 UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site as well as the northern road to Santiago that crosses the town. Other buildings in Mondoñedo stand out, such as the Santuario de los Remedios, built in the middle of the XVIII century, the Hospital de San Pablo, built at the same time, the Convent of La Concepción, the Church of Santiago, the Monastery of Los Picos and the Royal Seminary of Santa Catalina from the XVIII.

The architectural landscape of the town is characterized by the tile roofs of the houses that end in typical stone peaks called "ameas" to protect against the wind. The city of Mondoñedo is one of the points through which the Camino de Santiago passes, being a resting place for pilgrims. It appears historically linked to the diocese of Britonia -very possibly covering lands between the Sierra del Gistral and the Navia river gorge- and with the arrival of the Breton population from the island of the same name in the V. Among these, the figure of Bishop Mailoc stands out.

The valley in which the municipality is located preserves numerous archaeological remains such as dolmens, forts, such as that of Zoñán, and petroglyphs, which show that settlements already existed in it since the Neolithic.

View of the Cathedral of Mondoñedo, national monument since 1902, contemplated from the statue in homage to the writer Alvaro Cunqueiro.

It has one of the most well-cared hostels to do the Camino del Norte of the Camino de Santiago.

• Cathedral of Mondoñedo, It was built by Bishop Martiño between 1230 and 1248 and preserves the early Romanesque door. It has an ojival rosette of the centuryXIIIThe baroque stained glass windows, the towers and the pavilion are of the centuryXVIII, commanded to do for Bishop Munoz and Salcedo. In the interior the header is of Romanesque style and becomes ojival as the ships advance. Under the two organs of the centuryVIII There are mural paintings of the centuryXIV; some represent the Degollation of the Innocents and the other suppers of the life of Saint Peter. The cathedral museum "Santos San Cristobal" founded in 1969 contains archaeological pieces of the cathedral and the neighboring parishes, carvings, engravings, altarpieces and other liturgical objects. The Episcopal Palace is annexed to the Cathedral, and in front of it the bearers of the beautiful Plaza de España, where is the relaxed headquarters statue of Don Alvaro Cunqueiro.
• Church of Santiago It is the only church in the historical group that is "new" that is why it is popularly known as Igrexa Nova. It was built thanks to Bishop Fernandez de Castro who, wanting to equip the parish of Santiago with his own headquarters and to put an end to the clashes between the parish priest and the capitulares, decides to raise a new floor building to house it. The works began in 1890, but they had to be interrupted by lack of means. At the beginning of 1900 it was completed and consecrated.

Sanctuary of the Remedies.

• Sanctuary of the Remedies, at the entrance of the city is the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Remedies in whose interior is preserved the most beautiful Baroque ensemble of Mondoñedo. The Sanctuary is at one of the ends of the Campo de los Remedios, in a place known as Pena de Outeiro, on land purchased in the year 1558 to the lobby with donations from a group of mindonienses. Its plant is of Latin cross, although its ships covered by cannon vaults seem the same size.
• St. Paul's Hospital, also built at the same time. Above the door stand the shield of Mondoñedo and Sarmiento himself. It is said that Sarmiento had the "dolence of the stone" for the many buildings that he encouraged and that he wanted to open a canal through the river Masma to bring water from the sea to Mondoñedo.
• Alameda de los Remedios, located between the Sanctuary of the Remedies and the Hospital of Saint Paul, was planted in 1594 by the Regidor Luis de Luaces, who celebrated the first Feast of the Tree of Europe. There's a commemorative monolith.
• Monastery of the Alcántara, of the centuryXVIIIabandoned today. The right side wing is currently located the hostel of pilgrims. This project is the restoration of the monastery that together with the municipal auditorium and the music school integrate the cultural city of Alvaro Cunqueiro.
• Convent of the Conception, early in the centuryXVIII, built to welcome the conceptionist nuns that inhabited the peace of San Isidro in the Coto de Otero.
• Peace of the Regidor Luaces, number 6 of the Plaza Peña de France, of the Gothic isabelino style.It was in the year of 1594 when Luis de Luaces, perpetual ruler of the city of Mondoñedo, planted the grove that is at the beginning of the city, way of Abadín, where there is an hermitage dedicated to Nosa Señora dos Remedios and say in this land that His daughter Magdalena Fernández de Luaces Estoa and Miranda, married to Admiral Gonzalo Méndez de Cancio and Donlebún, governor and general captain of La Florida, on his return to Spain from the American continent in 1604, brings several arks with corn seeds, a plant that is introduced in Europe through the sowing in the many places of Galicia and Asturias that these families had. These arks keep them today descendants of these houses. From that time two jars are preserved in the cathedral with an image of corn spikes.
• Old Consistory, built in the centuryXVI. It has a coat of arms of Carlos V on the facade, a wrought iron roof and an image of San Roque, for an old vote of the town hall. It is currently the municipal library.
• Episcopal Palace, set on fire in 1832 and later restored.
• Fonte Vella, built in 1548 by Bishop Diego de Soto. He has the shields of Charles V and the bishop himself.
• Chapel of San Roque, located on the old street of Lindin, is a chapel that ended up baptizing the street. Lifted in the centuryXV it stood in the old royal way and the city's extramurs, the religious used to ask the bishops for the oath of the forums that protected it before allowing them to enter the century.XV.
• Chapel of Santiago, in the Os Muíños district is the chapel of Santiago whose construction dates from 1645 to the hands of Jácome Montero.
• Ponte do Pastempo, in the Molinos de Arriba, where the enemies of the Marshal Pardo de Cela detained the bearers of the real pardon the exact time to be executed. It crosses the river Valiñadares, where there were formerly many mills. It has a single half-point arch of 7 meters of light built in canyon with thick walls and on the pass the old Roman road.
• Seminar Santa Catalina, is the largest building in the city and its origin dates back to the end of the centuryXVIwhen, on the initiative of the City Regiment, it is decided to request from the Provincial Council the creation of a College of the kind that had been arranged in the city of Trento in each head of obispado. It was founded between 1569 and 1572, making it one of the first three that were erected in Spain. In the middle of the centuryXX. it was decided to build a new building, more comprehensive and suitable for new needs. He studied important writers such as Xosé Crecente Vega, Antonio Noriega Varela, Xosé María Díaz Castro or Aquilino Iglesia Alvariño among many others.
• Town Hall, building of the centuryXVIII. It has a city shield on the facade. It was barracks.
• Old Peace Civil Guard headquarters of the centuryXVIIIWith shields. It is currently the headquarters of the "Comarcal Centre da Mariña Central
• Cova do Rei Cintolo Antiquísimo cave located in the town of Mondoñedo, on which they tell a story about King Cintolo.
• Peace of San Isidro. At the top of the Couto de Outeiro, Parroquia del Carmen, declared BIC with category of Monument in June 2018. It was the headquarters of the "Torre Vieja" cited in the Medieval Documents; the Architect Diego Ibáñes Pacheco transformed it in peace in the centuryXVII And it was the Convention of the M.M. Conceptionists. It has 3 orchards, real road and laundry. The pigeon is the largest in the region.

In literature

It appears in the work of Camilo José Cela "del Miño al Bidasoa" (third chapter, subtitle 8: & # 34; From Villalba to Mondoñedo, passing through Abadin & # 34;, and subtitle 9: & # 34; The old Mondoñedo & # 34;. Where the vagabond (walker), reflects the impressions of him passing through Mondoñedo.

Gastronomy

• Nightfall

Parties

• As San Lucas. This celebration has an uncertain origin, probably in the year 1,156 when Alfonso VII grants Mondoñedo the title of city, when they begin to celebrate the holidays in honor of Saint Luke. In ancient times these parties had a duration of fifteen days, currently, even though they retain the medieval taste of the old parties, lasts between four and five days, being the big day on 18 October. It has its origin in a traditional fair dating back to the centuryXIII. It is the second oldest fair in Spain after the Medina del Campo.
• As Quendas, the first news of these parties dates back to the centuryXVI. The first days of May are celebrated, coinciding with the Roman Calendas Maias.
• Os Remedios, first Sunday after 8 September.
• Medieval Market. One of the most awaited parties by the mindonienses, is celebrated the second weekend of August

Educational centers

• CEIP Álvaro Cunqueiro Mora
• IES San Rosendo
• St. Catherine Seminar

Twinned cities

• Tréguier (France)
• Ferrol (Spain)

Notable people