Orrius
Encyclopedia
Òrrius is an municipality in Catalonia
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...

, in the Maresme
Maresme
Maresme is a comarca located along the Catalan Mediterranean coast in Spain, between the comarques of Barcelonès and Selva , and also bordering with Vallès Oriental ....

 zone of Spain. The municipality is delimited by La Roca del Vallés
La Roca del Vallès
La Roca del Vallès is a village in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain....

 to the North, Vilassar de Dalt
Vilassar de Dalt
Vilassar de Dalt is a village in Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona and the comarca of Maresme. The name comes from the Roman name Villa Azari, later changed to Vilassar...

 to the South East, Argentona
Argentona
Argentona is a municipality in the comarca of the Maresme inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated on the south-east side of the granite Litoral range, to the north-west ofMataró. The town is both a tourist centre and a notable horticultural centre...

 to the south, and Cabrils
Cabrils
Cabrils is a municipality in the comarca of the Maresme inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated between the municipalities of Vilassar de Mar, Vilassar de Dalt, Òrrius, Argentona and Cabrera de Mar, at about ten kilometers of Mataró, the comarca capital...

 to the southwest.

History

Cited for the first time as vila de Orreos in documents from 974. This name, that has is origin in Latin, means "Barns". It formed part of the lands of the Lords of Burriac until in 1357 King Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV, , called el Cerimoniós or el del punyalet , was the King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica , King of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona Peter IV, (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 – Barcelona, January 6, 1387), called el Cerimoniós ("the Ceremonious") or el del punyalet ("the one...

 conceded jurisdiction of the area to the Lords of Roca del Vallés.

Main sights

The village is centred around the church of Sant Andreu (Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...

), built in the 16th century in the late Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style. It is on the Latin cross plan, and has back to back chapels that were added later. There is also a small Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque 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,...

 hermitage. The bell tower is of later construction, being added to the church in 1826. In 1981 treasure, in the form of coins from the time of Berenguer Ramón II
Berenguer Ramon II, Count of Barcelona
Berenguer Ramon II the Fratricide was Count of Barcelona from 1076 to 1097. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer I, and initially ruled jointly with his twin brother Ramon Berenguer II....

, was found within the church.

Also within the Municipality is the church of Sant Bartomeu de Cabanyes, first recorded in 1191.

Events

Òrrius celebrates its fiesta mayor on 30th of November, the Feast of Saint Andrew. During this fiesta peixos are eaten; a small cake, typical to the village, in the form of a fish. There is also the Festa de la Plantada del Maig, celebrated on the second Saturday of May, where a tall tree that has been carried around the village by the villagers is planted in the town square.

Economy

Traditionally, the principal economic activity is agriculture. Nevertheless, the proximity of the village to Mataró
Mataró
Mataró is the capital and largest city of the comarca of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, to the north-east of Barcelona. , it...

 means that since the 1970s the village has become home to many residents of that town. For this reason, many inhabitants work outside the village.

There is little industrial activity, though there is a small granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

quarry that continues to be exploited.

External links

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