El Acebo (León) (0)

Did you know that... El Acebo

It is located at the top of a hill, surrounded by a beautiful natural environment and looking towards the great Bercian hole that opens at its feet. El Acebo, in the middle of the Jacobean route is the typical village-street of the French Way. It very possibly originated at the height of the pilgrimage to Santiago in medieval times, although the large influx of hermits who came to this area back in the fifth to eighth centuries suggests that its foundation was earlier, also the remains of nearby castros speak of Celtic settlements as well as, due to the mining area nearby, it is known that at least was a place of passage in Roman times. In writings and documents it is mentioned for the first time in the 13th century. In the village there was a hospital and a hostel for pilgrims back in the 15th century and its operation was prolonged in the first half of the 16th century.

A little more history

In the 15th century, the Catholic Monarchs exhorted the inhabitants of El Acebo and Foncebadón to keep the route between the two villages signposted so that no pilgrim would be lost when the inclemency of the weather erased the Way and in return they freed them from the payment of tributes. It is currently part of the municipality of Molinaseca but has always had a neighborhood meeting with a pedaneo mayor chosen by lot among the neighbors of the village.

To discover What to see in El Acebo?

El Acebo is a small village with a well-kept appearance, with its houses on both sides of the main street displaying the popular architecture typical of Bierzo with slate roofs and wooden balconies. At the entrance to the village the famous Fuente de la Trucha (Trout Fountain) welcomes the traveller, who also meets a cruise ship and the hermitage of San Roque. Its parish church is dedicated to San Miguel Arcángel and is Romanesque from the 12th century. El Acebo also shows a monument in wrought iron, a bicycle intertwined with the bordón, the pumpkin and the venera, in honour of a German pilgrim who was on his way to Santiago on his bicycle and who died there.

Festivities

In El Acebo the main festival is Corpus Cristi, but it is the 9th of August when it celebrates the popular festivity.

Curiosities

Inside the parish church of El Acebo there is a sculpture, possibly Romanesque, carved in stone, polychrome and dressed in a tunic decorated with lilies on a turquoise background. This enigmatic sculpture of a man with beards, barefoot and with a book, is believed to represent Santiago but as it does not have the classic Jacobean details of the Apostle it can be thought that he could be the Salvador or even San Juan Evangelista.

The Legend

The church of El Acebo has a belfry with two bells, one of them is the bell of Santa Bárbara, and it is said in the village that, when a storm threatened, the bell was turned over by a pious and devout person, and this made the storm move away from the area, and thus did not cause damage to people, animals or crops.