Sama

Sama is an Asturian parish in the municipality of Langreo, in Spain, and one of the six urban districts into which the capital of the municipality, Langreo, is divided.

The entire parish and urban district occupies an area of 5.47 km². About 10,000 people live in the urban district while about 375 live in the rest of the parish.

History

Sama de Langreo was not a parish until its segregation from that of Ciaño in the 19th century. The current place where Sama rises was a fertile plain next to the Nalón River, with different entities located towards the upper areas of the valley, with the "Casa de los Notarios" from the 15th century, demolished in 2019. Near the place where the current temple of Santiago stands there was a chapel dedicated to Saint Juan in which according to tradition Aurelius was crowned as king of Asturias in 768 AD. C., as revealed by some inscriptions discovered when the hermitage was demolished in 1882. Aurelio had his court in San Martín, then the territory of Langreo and today the council of San Martín del Rey Aurelio.

In the 19th century the administrative tasks of the council, then established in Ciaño, began to move to Sama, which with The rise of coal exploitation (and infrastructure such as two railway lines in that same century) began to consolidate itself as a place of residence for workers and the small bourgeois class in the area. During the Third Carlist War, a group of these besieged and destroyed the Town Hall and with it the historical archive of Langreo, and the current town hall was then built. In the middle of the 19th century the large steel plant of Duro Felguera was established in the neighboring town of La Felguera and with it numerous secondary industries that in turn require coal, the centers of Langreo constantly growing. With industrialization, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the XX schools, food and livestock markets, cinemas and theaters, casino, the Sanatorio Adaro mining hospital, working-class and bourgeois neighborhoods, etc. are built in Sama. The railway arrived in 1856 when the locomotive 'Villa de Gijón' entered Sama. of Langreo FC. With this, commercial activity is also of special relevance, which has left its mark on numerous properties in the town, some of art-deco or modernist inspiration, and others with rationalist and very urban traces. Very well-known was the Teatro Vital Aza, one of the many cultural centers that the population had. It maintained special relevance during the events that occurred in the Asturian Revolution when socialist militiamen under the orders of Belarmino Tomás attacked the Civil Guard barracks, located in a tenement house, practically killing the 80 civil guards and assault guards who defended it. including its captain José Alonso Nart, who received the Laureate Cross of San Fernando. After the Civil War, the period of autarky was beneficial for the economy of the region, but it lost importance with the constitution of Ensidesa, Uninsa and the progressive transfer of industrial activity to other parts of Asturias. In the 90s, the two large mining wells that Sama had, Fondón and Modesta, closed. In 2007, the fire on an underground coal transportation belt to the Modesta Laundry made it necessary to evacuate hundreds of local residents due to a toxic cloud. This caused the definitive closure of the laundry room, the last industrial facility in the town.

News

The main commercial center of Sama is Dorado Street. On the banks of the Nalón River is the Parque Dorado, from the period between centuries and included in the Cultural Inventory of Asturias. The parish church is neo-Gothic in style, rebuilt after the 1934 Revolution and dedicated to Santiago, patron of local celebrations since 1902, the year in which the Santiago Festival Commission was founded. Today the industrial crisis in the mining regions has reduced the commercial activity that characterized Sama until a few decades ago. It has two relevant cultural centers, the Cine Felgueroso audiovisual center and the Pozo Fondón-Archivo de Hunosa museum space. Sama also houses the Nalón Valley Conservatory of Music, a health center, Adaro Sanatorium and a Secondary Education institute. It is also home to the Langreo Courts.

Celebrations

The festival of Santiago is celebrated around July 25 and until recently the popular Certamen de Tibadores Mineros, one of the oldest in Spain, was held there. In addition, Los Güevos Pintos (Easter Monday) and carnivals are also celebrated, when the Antroxu Menu is served. For more than a decade, the Bonfire of San Juan was celebrated in the Llera neighborhood, with a falla in the Nalón river. In 2010 the celebration was put to an end due to the refusal of Hidroterapia del Cantábrico.

Transportation

Sama is connected by rail with Oviedo and Avilés (Renfe), and with Gijón (former FC de Langreo, later FEVE and today Renfe). Also by bus with Oviedo, Gijón and Mieres. The Langreo Buses allow you to move around the Nalón region.

Places of interest

• Church of Santiago Apostle
• Plaza de España
  • Consistorial House
  • Casa Cuca
  • Banco Herrero
• Casino de La Montera
• Former Golden Schools (House of Culture)
• Pozo Fondon and Historical Archive of Hunosa
• Pozo Modesta
• Los Ingleses Bridge (1895), Puente Viejo (1865) and La Maquinilla Bridge (about 1890)
• Sanatorio Adaro
• Centro audiovisual Cine Felgueroso
• Chalé Carbones La Nueva
• Parque Dorado
  • Samaritana Fountain
  • Kiosko of music
  • Monument to work
  • The Carbonera

Featured people

• Lluis Xabel Álvarez Fernández, philosopher and writer
• Mariano Bartelmi, Real Zaragoza footballer and Santander Racing.
• Narcissus Ibáñez Menta, actor and director of cinema and theatre, father of Narcissus Ibáñez Serrador.
• Enrique García Álvarez, actor
• Rosana Castrillo, artist
• María José Ramos Rubiera, politician
• Angelita Cuesta, one of the Red Rides.
• José Joaquín Fernández Castaño, religious
• Valentin Ochoa Rodríguez, poet
• Cristina Helena Trexu, poet
• Julián García Muñiz, mines and writer
• Antonio María Dorado, politician
• Carlos Suárez Nieto, doctor

Bibliography used

• Langreo in the Nomenclator of population entities of Asturias 2006-2009 (2010) by sadei.