Cardona
Encyclopedia
Cardona is a town ìn Catalonia
, Spain
, in the province of Barcelona
; about 90 km northwest of the city of Barcelona
, on a hill almost surrounded by the river Cardoner, a branch of the Llobregat
.
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.
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, in the province of Barcelona
Barcelona (province)
Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia.-Overview:It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea....
; about 90 km northwest of the city of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, on a hill almost surrounded by the river Cardoner, a branch of the Llobregat
Llobregat
The Llobregat is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. It originates in Castellar de n'Hug at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona...
.
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
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. 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
- Castle of CardonaCastle of CardonaThe Castle of Cardona is arguably the most important medieval fortress in the Principality of Catalonia. It is situated on a hill overlooking the river valley of the Cardener and the town of Cardona....
set high on a hill. - 14th-century RomanesqueRomanesque architectureRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
Church of St. VincençChurch of St. VincençSaint Vicenç is Catalan-Lombard style church in Cardona, Catalonia, Spain.It is located at the top of a fortified hill.Starting from the 11th century, stone churches, some as a part of Benedictine monastic complexes, began to be built in the area. The earliest of these stone churches had wooden...
. - Church of Sant Miquel, built in the 11th century and rebuilt in the 14th century in Gothic style. It houses a precious polyptychPolyptychA polyptych generally refers to a painting which is divided into sections, or panels. The terminology that follows is in relevance to the number of panels integrated into a particular piece of work: "diptych" describes a two-part work of art; "triptych" describes a three-part work; "tetraptych"...
by Pere Vall, depicting St. Anne, the Virgin and St. Amador, and a 15th century baptismal font.
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
External links
- Official site (in Catalan)
- Parador at Cardona
- Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia)
- Associació Cultural El Mercat del Blat (Cultural Association of Cardona)
- Associació Cultural 18 de Setembre (Cultural Association of Cardona)
- Photos of Cardona