Ordino () is the most northerly

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

in the Principality of

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

. It's mostly the main area of

Valira del Nord Valira may refer to: * Valira, Greece * Gran Valira, the largest river in Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_mo ...

or ''Valira d'Ordino'' river valley. Ordino is also the name of the main town of the parish. Other settlements in the parish are El Serrat,

Ansalonga Ansalonga () is a village in Andorra, located in the parish of Ordino Ordino () is the most northerly parish in the Principality of Andorra. It's mostly the main area of Valira del Nord or ''Valira d'Ordino'' river valley. Ordino is also the nam ...

Sornàs Sornàs () is a village in Andorra, located in the parish of Ordino Ordino () is the most northerly parish in the Principality of Andorra. It's mostly the main area of Valira del Nord or ''Valira d'Ordino'' river valley. Ordino is also the name ...

La Cortinada La Cortinada () is a village in Andorra, located between the villages of Arans and Ansalonga in the parish of Ordino Ordino () is the most northerly parish in the Principality of Andorra. It's mostly the main area of Valira del Nord or ''Valira ...

Llorts Llorts () is a village in Andorra, located in the parish of Ordino. Main sights Andorra's Iron Route runs between Llorts and La Cortinada La Cortinada () is a village in Andorra, located between the villages of Arans and Ansalonga in the parish ...

Segudet Segudet () is a village in Andorra, located in the parish of Ordino Ordino () is the most northerly parish in the Principality of Andorra. It's mostly the main area of Valira del Nord or ''Valira d'Ordino'' river valley. Ordino is also the name ...

Arans Arans () is a village in Andorra, located in the parish of Ordino in the north of the country. It is situated on the right bank of the Valira del Nord river, between Llorts and La Cortinada, and next to the CG-3 road leading to the Ordino Ar ...

, Les Salines and Arcalís. It is home to the Sorteny National Park, the largest nature area of Andorra. It has a population of 4,858, as of 2017. The town preserves a vast medieval center, mainly linked to the culture of the country.

Geography

The parish has borders with France (

Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...

) and also with the parishes of

La Massana La Massana (; originally ''La Maçana'') is one of the seven parishes of the Principality of Andorra. It is located in the northwest of the country. La Massana is also the name of the main town of the parish. The name Massana derives from the Lati ...

Canillo Canillo () is one of the parishes of Andorra. Canillo is also the name of the main town of the parish. The parish is considered the religious center of Andorra with the Sanctuary and Chapel of Our Lady of Meritxell, patron saint of Andorra, and c ...

, and

Encamp Encamp () is one of the parishes of Andorra, located on the Valira d'Orient river. It is also the name of the main town in the parish. Other settlements include Vila, El Pas de la Casa, Grau Roig, El Tremat, La Mosquera and Les Bons. As of 2004, ...

. The only main road and only all year external link is the CG-3 leading to the neighbouring parish of La Massana. With 85 km² is the third largest parish after

and

. The town of Ordino lies on the footslopes of Casamanya (2740 m), a mountain which has spectacular panoramic views from its summit being located almost exactly in the centre of Andorra.Hiking the Eastern Pyrenees, Peter Dunkley
''Passport Newsletter'', February 2009, Editor K. Petchenik, Remy Publishing

Climate

Ordino has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Ordino is . The average annual rainfall is with May as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Ordino was on 18 August 2012; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 23 February 2005.

History

The etymological origin of the name of the parish Ordino and its capital is pre-Roman, and it is documented for the first time in the ''Acta de Consagració i Dotació de la Catedral de la Seu d'Urgell'' (Deed of Consecration and Endowment of the Cathedral of La Seu d'Urgell), during the 9th century, as ''Hordinavi'' or ''Sant Cebrià d'Hordinavi''. Ordino is historically known for its ironworks of the 16th century, especially ''Farga del Serrat'' and ''Farga de l'Areny''. Besides being the industrial center of Andorra, Ordino is considered the cultural center of Andorra. Here Antoni Fiter i Rossell wrote the ''Manual Digest'' (1748), called the "Bible of Andorra," which tells the story, the government and the Andorran customs. The town of Ordino include the parish church of Sant Corneli i Sant Cebrià, already mentioned in 839, was mainly built during the 12th and 13th centuries. The Romanesque church of Sant Martí de la Cortinada, with 12th-century murals, is also a good example of romanesque Andorran art.

Manor houses A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...

like Fiter-Riba or

Casa Rossell Casa Rossell is a manor house located in Ordino, Andorra. It is a heritage property registered in the Cultural Heritage of Andorra The Cultural Heritage of Andorra is an organization in Andorra which protects national buildings and monuments cons ...

, which holds the original ''Manual Digest'' and Areny-Plandolit family house, owners of ''Farga de l'Areny'', represented the good society of Andorra between the 17th and 19th centuries. Both mansions were acquired in 1972 by Consell General and converted into an ethnological and historical museum. Areny-Plandolit casa Ordino (Andorra)

The parish and town is the namesake of the Andorran legend El buner d'Ordino, in which a bagpiper from Ordino, en route to a festival in

, is chased and treed by wolves, but frightens them off by playing his instrument.

Culture

Ordino has been part of the culture of Andorra and the

Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as '' Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern ...

as major headquarter of Fundacio Ramon Llull (''

Ramon Llull Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to pro ...

Foundation''), an international organization constituted in 2008 in order to promote Catalan language and culture internationally. The National Auditorium of Andorra (Catalan: ''Auditori Nacional d'Andorra'') is located in Ordino town. The International Narciso Yepes Festival, a series of classical music concerts, has been held there every October since 1983. The festival was started by the late guitarist,

Narciso Yepes Narciso Yepes (14 November 19273 May 1997) was a Spanish guitarist. He is considered one of the finest virtuoso classical guitarists of the twentieth century. Biography Yepes was born into a family of humble origin in Lorca, Region of Murcia. ...

. The Postal and Postcard Museum of Andorra (Catalan: ''Museu Postal d'Andorra'') and the Miniature Museum (Catalan: ''Museu de la Miniatura'') are localed in the parish of Ordino. ''La Ruta del Ferro'', which translates into English as the ''Iron Route'', is a cultural route of old iron ore mines and rural cottages across the

, between

and

. It is part of the old road that the carriers used to carry the iron from the mines of Llorts to the ironwork forges of

Events and festivities

A festival deeply rooted in the town of Ordino is ''El Roser d'Ordino'' or ''The Rose Festival'', in which the processions and devotions during the month of July have given way to the Roses festival, a spring symbol linked to love, beauty and devotion. Traditionally, the day before the youth went to pick roses that grew in the fields and orchards, preparing the bouquets and placed in a basket that gave to women. The celebration was religious in the morning, in the afternoon there was a parade and a harvest (''La Plega del Carbassó'') and everything ended with a dance at night. During two days, usually the first weekend of August, the streets of Ordino are filled with ''buners'', an aerophone instrument that receives a wide variety of names depending on the area (bag of moans, ''xeremia'', ''coixinera'', Ordino's bagpipe, bottle or cleat) and is a symbol of the parish by its

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

. All events are popular, celebrated by local people and parishioners, who have gone from town to town and from a popular festival to a popular festival playing the bagpipes. The sings of ''Caramelles'' (religious songs from the

Old Catalonia Old Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya Vella) was a legal concept created by Catalan jurist in the second quarter of the thirteenth century to refer to the territories of Catalonia containing remensa peasants from the Diocese of Girona, the eastern ...

sung during the

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

), and its dances, are also popular and traditional in the parish.

Sports

The Comú d'Ordino, the local government, has a sports center (CEO) with swimming pool, gym, squash, sauna and rock climbing wall; along with the CTEO sport center with indoor and outdoor fields. It's also the parish were the start and finish of Ultra Trail Andorra take place, one of the most important mountain trail races in Southern Europe. View of La Coma Arcalis Andorra

FC Ordino, founded in 2010, is one of the major sport clubs in the parish. The club's football section currently plays in Primera Divisió, the Andorran Premier Division. In the extreme northwest of the parish is the Vallnord (Ordino-Arcalis sector ski station) ski resort which has peaks up to 2,625 m. Vallnord is part of the annually

Freeride World Tour The Freeride World Tour (FWT) is an annually toured series of events in which the best freeskiers and snowboard freeriders compete for individual event wins, as well as the overall title of World Champion in their respective genders and disciplin ...

''El Dorado'' route since 2015, as part of the major ski events in Andorra; along with the FIS International Youth Trophy Trofeu Borrufa celebrated every January. The ski station has also hosted since 2005 main stages of the

European Championships of Ski Mountaineering The European Championships of Ski Mountaineering were the European championships for national ski mountaineering teams 1992Claude Défago''The history of ski alpinisme'' (German). to 2009. They were held biannually and were separated in men's and wo ...

and

World Championships of Ski Mountaineering The World Championships of Ski Mountaineering are biannually held ski mountaineering competitions. History The events were originally sanctioned by the International Council for Ski Mountaineering Competitions (ISMC). The first official world ma ...

. During summer the ski resort is open as bike park. In mountain biking, Vallnord was the venue for events during the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and 2013 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. The 2015 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships were held in Vallnord. In road cycling, Arcalis was used for a stage finish in the 1994 Vuelta a España, and Pal as a stage finish in the 2010 Vuelta a España. Vallnord was used for stage finishes in the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

and

2011 Volta a Catalunya The 2011 Volta a Catalunya was the 91st running of the Volta a Catalunya cycling stage race. It started on 21 March in Lloret de Mar and ended on 27 March in Barcelona, and consisted on seven stages. It was the fifth race of the 2011 UCI World Tou ...

. Stage 10 of the

1997 Tour de France The 1997 Tour de France was the 84th edition of the Tour de France and took place from 5 to 27 July. Jan Ullrich's victory margin of 9:09 was the largest margin of victory since Laurent Fignon won the 1984 Tour de France by 10:32. Since 1997 no r ...

, Stage 7 of the

2009 Tour de France The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco. The race visit ...

and Stage 9 of the

2016 Tour de France The 2016 Tour de France was the 103rd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 2 July in Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, and concluding on 24 July with the Champs-Élysées st ...

also all finished at Arcalis. The major national road

bicycle touring Bicycle touring is the taking of self-contained cycling trips for pleasure, adventure or autonomy rather than sport, commuting or exercise. Bicycle touring can range from single-day trips to extended travels spanning weeks or months. Tours may be ...

event, ''La Volta als Ports'', finish in Arcalís. The race, also known as the Tour of the Andorran Passes or the Andorran Vuelta, was developed during the mid-1970s and has become one of the largest cyclotourism road event in Southern Europe.

Environment

As of October 2020, Ordino is part of the UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Gallery

File:Ordino e estrada a La Massana. Andorra 23.jpg, Ordino and road to La Massana File:Comu d'Ordino.JPG, Ordino Town Hall File:Hotel Casamanya (4).JPG, Noucentist Hotel Casamanya File:Vitrall16 1.jpg, National Auditorium Square by Domènec Fita i Molat File:Vall de Sorteny (Ordino) - 40.jpg,

Jacint Verdaguer Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló (; 17 May 1845 – 10 June 1902) was a Catalan / Spanish writer, regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a cultural revival movement of the ...

statue File:Cal Pal de la Cortinada 1.jpg, Cal Pal de la Cortinada File:Casa Blanca Segudet Ordino 01.jpg, Casa Blanca de Segudet File:Casa d'Areny-Plandolit (Ordino) - 2.jpg, Areny-Plandolit Manor House File:Vall de Sorteny (Ordino) - 35.jpg,

File:San Martí de La Cortinada. Andorra 38.jpg, Església de Sant Martí de la Cortinada File:Església de Sant Serni de Llorts 1.jpg, Old town of

File:Riu_de_Sorteny_-_2.jpg, Sorteny National Park File:Massís del Casamanya - 12.jpg, Massís del Casamanya File:Vista dunha granxa baixando desde Coll de Ordino a Canillo. Andorra 310.jpg, Coll d'Ordino File:Pont romànic d'Ordino.JPG, Romanesque bridge of Ordino File:El Rialb - 20.jpg, El Rialb File:Angonella4.jpg, L'Angonella File:Cabalo no alto da Coma. Andorra 298.jpg, La Coma File:Pic de Font Blanca.jpg, Pic de la Font Blanca

References

External links

{{Authority control Parishes of Andorra Populated places in Andorra