Columbrianos (León) (0)

Did you know that... Columbrianos

It is situated just over two kilometres from Ponferrada, in the Bierzo alluvial plain derived from the Hoya del Bierzo, and is crossed by two streams. Although Columbrianos has not always been here, as its current location is due to the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus who ordered that the nuclei of population that were at height regrouped in the plain. This locality, of pre-Roman origin, is one of the oldest towns in the region of El Bierzo. It is known of the existence of settlements some 700 years before Christ, and testifying to this are two pre-Roman forts close to the town. Where its name comes from, it has several interpretations. While some are inclined because it has relation with the fact of the presence in the place of the Columbine Fathers, very related to zones of the French Way, others attribute it to the numerous quantity of pigeons and dovecotes that were, pigeon in Latin is columba, and for others, that comes from coimbranos, people of the Portuguese Coimbra, which repopulated the town.

The name of Columbrianos already appears in written documents, making reference to donations, in the 10th and 11th centuries. In the first quarter of the 19th century it was the centre of the town hall, but since 1837 it has been linked to Ponferrada. It has a neighbourhood council and a pedaneo mayor.

To discover What to see in Columbrianos?

Columbrianos proudly displays their ancestral homes such as Tormaleo and Regalao, the latter being the seat of the city council. In the centre of the village the small hermitage dedicated to San Blas was built in the 16th century, on one of the faces of the façade there is a beautiful picture in honour of the pilgrims who pass through here, and somewhat separated from the centre of Columbrianos is the parish church of San Esteban which dates from the 18th century, although its belfry had to be rebuilt in 1948 as a result of the demolition caused by lightning.

Festivities

Columbrianos celebrates the 26th of December to San Esteban, who is the patron saint of the town, and in June it celebrates the Octave of Corpus Christi.

Traditions

In the month of July and fulfilling the tradition, a procession leaves from Columbrianos until the hermitage of the Divine Christ, that depends on the neighborhood meeting of Fuentesnuevas and that was constructed by its own neighbors in the year 2003, after the procession a solemn mass is officiated.

Curiosities

In Columbrianos it is curious to see two sculptures carved on the trunk of two black elms. One is in the square of the Council, in it the woman of the berciano field is represented by a peasant woman carrying a basket in her head. This carving is sculpted in a centenary elm, already dead from a disease that entered her. The other one is made on a tricentennial elm, exposed in the Square of the Eras represents a stork's nest on a child who is writing the word Columbrianos.​

The Legend

According to oral tradition, the Portuguese colony that settled in the area in the early years of the Reconquest and from whom the name CONIMBRIGANOS derives, as they must have been from Coimbra, was located in the area of the castro, today known as the recreational area "Los Campelines".