Mondoñedo

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Mondonedo City Council
Official seal of Mondonedo City Council
Seal
Nickname: Mondoñedo
Region of A Mariña Central
Region of A Mariña Central
Parroquias ?
Government
 - Alcalde (Mayor) ? (?)
Area
 - Land ? km² (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "?" sq mi)
 - Water ? km² (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "?" sq mi)
Population (2005)
 - City ? (INE)
 - Density ?/km² (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "?"/sq mi)
  ?
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CET (UTC+2)
Website:  ?

Mondoñedo ( 43°26′00.36″N, 7°21′23.48″W) is a small town and municipality in A Marinha county in the Galician province of Lugo. As of 2002, the town has a population of 4,987. Mondoñedo occupies a sheltered valley among the northern outliers of the Cantabrian Mountains.

The town was declared a national cultural-historical site in 1985. Its main attraction is the three-nave cathedral, begun in Romanesque style around 1230. It reflects an unusual mixture of styles: Gothic in the naves, and Baroque in the its 18th century towers. The polychrome statue in the high altar, called Nuestra Señora la Inglesa (the English Madonna) was rescued from the St. Paul Cathedral in London during the Protestant Reformation of Henry VIII of England.

According to local tradition, the bishopric of Dumium, near Braga, was transferred to San Martinho de Mondonhedo, 10 miles from Mondonhedo, in the 8th century; it was brought to Mondoñedo itself in the beginning of the 12th century. After having been for nearly a century and a half in the hands of the Moors, Mondonhedo was recaptured by Ordoño I of Asturias in 858; and the Christian possession was made permanent by Alfonso III of León in 870. It was taken by surprise by the French in 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars. The Galician Province of Mondoñedo disappeared in 1833 when all the seven provinces of Galicia were reduced to four, and the entire Province of Mondoñedo was first divided into two halves and later absorbed and assimilated into the existing provinces of Lugo and A Coruña.Originally the Mondonhedo provice was linked to the arrival in this part of Galicia of Celtic-Briton inmigrants during the Dark Ages period (c.V-VI) fleeing by sea from the British Isles facing the Anglo-Saxon domination as it also happened in Brittany.(see Bishop Maeloc, Britonia)

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[edit] Geography and tourism

  • The Caves of King "Cintolo" (also "Covas do Rei Cintolo") Impressive caves in the outskirts of the city of Mondoñedo. They can be visited, but the local authorities should be informed before hand for health and safety reasons as well as to get the entrance keys. Excellent site for those who fancy speleology (that is, exploring caves) and/or mountaineering.

[edit] See also

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