What to see in Ponferrada?
History
There are Neolithic and Roman remains, but the town was born at the end of the 11th century, when Bishop Osmundo of Astorga had a bridge built over the Sil for pilgrims around 1082. It was reinforced with iron, and from that pons ferrata the city takes its name.
A settlement grew up beside the bridge around the church of San Pedro.
In 1178 Fernando II of León gave it to the Order of the Temple, which enlarged the castle, and Alfonso IX confirmed the donation. Tradition says that the Templars found the image of the Virgin, today patroness of El Bierzo, in the hollow of a holm oak.
After the dissolution of the Temple in the 14th century, Ponferrada passed into the hands of great noble lineages and was surrounded by walls.
The Castro and the Osorio families, counts of Lemos, fought over the town during the 15th century.
After the Irmandiño revolt and a long succession dispute, the Catholic Monarchs brought the castle under the Crown in 1486.
During the Peninsular War it was several times the seat of the Junta Superior de León.
Alfonso XIII granted it the title of city in 1908. Coal mining, the railway and the 1949 thermal power station made it the economic capital of El Bierzo.
What are the locals called?
Its people are ponferradinos (masculine) and ponferradinas (feminine).
Geography
Ponferrada, capital of El Bierzo, lies 113 km from León, where the Sil and the Boeza meet, at the eastern end of the Bierzo basin. The A-6 motorway runs through it.
To the north the land is flat, in the valleys; to the south rise the Montes Aquilianos, which exceed 2,000 metres at Pico Tuerto.
The city lies at about 520 metres above sea level, far below the passes the pilgrim has just crossed.
Heritage
Other places of interest
- Calle del Reloj, which links the Plaza de la Encina with the town hall square.
- The Torre del Reloj, the 16th-century clock tower, built over one of the gates of the medieval wall.
- The town hall, Baroque, from 1692.
- Iglesia de San Andrés, beside the castle, with the Cristo de las Maravillas.
- Church of Santo Tomás de las Ollas, Mozarabic, on the outskirts.
- Hermitage of El Salvador, in Toral de Merayo, Neoclassical.
- The Compludo forge, a water-powered medieval forge.
- Peñalba de Santiago, a mountain village with a 10th-century Mozarabic church, in the Valley of Silence.
- Museum del Bierzo: art and archaeology of the district, in the palace of the counts of Toreno, a former prison, beside the Torre del Reloj.
- Railway Museum: in the old station of the Ponferrada–Villablino mining railway, with restored steam locomotives.
- Radio Museum, promoted by Luis del Olmo.
- Energy Museum: in the old thermal power stations, with the original machinery for producing electricity from coal.
- Nearby are Las Médulas, the great Roman gold mines, a World Heritage Site.
Festivities
La Encina
The festivities of Our Lady of the Oak, patroness of Ponferrada and El Bierzo, are on 8 September, with the «Encinina» the following day.
In the days before there are activities for children in the Parque del Temple.
The festival week brings a ceramics fair, exhibitions, a Bierzo song festival, sport and concerts.
On the afternoon of the 8th there is a parade of floats, and the nights end with open-air dances and food stalls.
The Templar Night
On the first full moon of July, the Templar Night re-enacts the return of the Master of the Temple to the city, entrusting Ponferrada with the custody of the Grail and the Ark of the Covenant: parades, music and fireworks beside the castle.
Ponferrada
| Country | España | |
| Autonomous community | Castilla y León | |
| Province | Leon Province | |
| Comarca | El Bierzo | |
| Judicial district | Ponferrada | |
| Location | 42°32′46″N 6°35′27″O | |
| Elevation | 512 m (min: 446, max: 2099) | |
| Area | 283,17 km² | |
| Settlements | Bárcena del Bierzo Bouzas Campo Carracedo de Compludo Columbrianos Compludo Compostilla Cuatrovientos Dehesas Espinoso de Compludo Flores del Sil Fuentesnuevas Lombillo de los Barrios Manzanedo de Valdueza La Martina Montes de Valdueza Otero Ozuela Palacios de Compludo Peñalba de Santiago La Placa Ponferrada Rimor Salas de los Barrios San Adrián de Valdueza San Andrés de Montejos San Clemente de Valdueza San Cristóbal de Valdueza San Esteban de Valdueza San Lorenzo Santa Lucía de Valdueza Santo Tomás de las Ollas Toral de Merayo Urbanización Patricia Valdecañada Valdefrancos Villanueva de Valdueza Villar de los Barrios | |
| Founded | 11th century, as Pons Ferrata | |
| Population | 62 963 hab. (2023) | |
| Density | 232,33 hab./km² | |
| Demonym | ponferradino, ponferradina | |
| Postal code | 24401-24404 | |
| Dialling code | 987 | |
| Twinned with | Pachuca de Soto | |
| Patroness | Our Lady of the Oak (8 de septiembre) | |
| Website | https://www.ponferrada.org/es | |