Cardona, Spain

Cardona
Municipality
Cardona from the air

Coat of arms
Cardona
Location in Catalonia
Cardona
Cardona (Spain)
Coordinates: 41°54′49″N 1°40′50″E / 41.91361°N 1.68056°E / 41.91361; 1.68056
Country Spain
Community  Catalonia
Province Barcelona
Comarca Bages
Government
 • Mayor Ferran Estruch Torrents (2015)[1]
Area[2]
 • Total 66.7 km2 (25.8 sq mi)
Elevation 506 m (1,660 ft)
Population (2014)[1]
 • Total 4,921
 • Density 74/km2 (190/sq mi)
Website www.cardona.cat

Cardona is a town ìn Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona; about 90 km (56 mi) northwest of the city of Barcelona, on a hill almost surrounded by the river Cardener, a branch of the Llobregat. To the east of the town, the river has been diverted through a tunnel has been dug through a spur, leaving a loop of dry river bed near the saltmine.

Rock salt mine in Cardona

Near the town is an extensive deposit of rock salt. The salt forms a mountain mass (called Muntanya de Sal) covered by a thick bed of a reddish-brown clay, and apparently resting on a yellowish-grey sandstone. It is generally more or less translucent, and large masses of it are quite transparent. The hill has been worked like a mine since Roman times; pieces cut from it have been carved by artists in Cardona into images, crucifixes and many articles of an ornamental kind.

Main sights

  • The Castle of Cardona, which is set high on a hill and contains a Parador hotel.
  • The 14th-century Romanesque Church of St. Vincenç.
  • The Church of Sant Miquel, built in the 11th century and rebuilt in the 14th century in Gothic style. It houses a precious polyptych by Pere Vall, depicting St. Anne, the Virgin and St. Amador, and a 15th-century baptismal font.


Panoramic view of the village, from near the castle

Local festivals

  • Caramelles: The Sunday of Passover
  • Mercat de la ganga: The first Sunday of February
  • Fira de Pentecostés: The first Sunday of June
  • Fira de la Llenega: The last Sunday of October
  • Festa Major: The second last weekend in September
  • Aplec de Cardona: 18 September


Notes

The movie Chimes at Midnight, by Orson Welles, was filmed at the castle in Cardona.

Twin towns

Bibliography

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cardona". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  • Pedrosa, Andreu (2001). The Castle of Cardona. Sant Vincenç de Castellet: Farell. ISBN 84-930418-8-2
  • Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona:Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 (Spanish). ISBN 84-87135-02-1 (Catalan).

References

  1. 1 2 "Ajuntament de Cardona". Generalitat of Catalonia. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  2. ↑ "El municipi en xifres: Cardona". Statistical Institute of Catalonia. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  3. ↑ General Consul of Uruguay in Barcelona (4 February 2010). "Hermanamiento Cardona Catalana y Uruguaya". Retrieved 7 May 2011.


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