Cardona, Spain

Cardona
Municipality
Cardona from the air
Coat of arms
Cardona Location in Catalonia
Coordinates: 41°54′49″N 1°40′50″E / 41.91361°N 1.68056°E
Country	Spain
Community	Catalonia
Province	Barcelona
Comarca	Bages
Government
• Mayor	Ferran Estruch Torrents (2015)[1]
Area[2]
• Total	66.7 km^2 (25.8 sq mi)
Elevation	506 m (1,660 ft)
Population (2014)[1]
• Total	4,921
• Density	74/km^2 (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 Cardoner, 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
• Oktoberfest

Notes

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

Twin towns

• Cardona, Uruguay^[3]

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. "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.

External links

• Official site (in Catalan)
• Associació Cultural El Mercat del Blat (Cultural Association of Cardona)
• Associació Cultural 18 de Setembre (Cultural Association of Cardona)