Sobrado is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the province of

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

, in the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

of Galicia,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It has a population of 2,087 (Spanish 2011 Census) and an area of 121 km². Sobrado is well known because of

Sobrado Abbey Sobrado Abbey, ( or ) is a Cistercian monastery in the province of La Coruña, Galicia, Spain. It is situated in the municipality of Sobrado, about 9 km east of Corredoiras and about 46 km southeast of Betanzos, at an altitude of 54 ...

, a

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

monastery. The town is known by the name Sobrado dos Monxes in Galician or Sobrado de los Monjes in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

but the official name is just Sobrado.

Geography

Demographics

Climate and vegetation

The town of Sobrado, in its climatic characteristics (temperatures, precipitation, humidity, hours of direct sunlight) has a climate characteristic of the European Atlantic that means wet and cool, with heavy rainfall due to greater latitude within the autonomous region and the dorsal Galician screen acting for the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

storms that discharge heavy rains on this side, approaching the annual average 1,400 mm. Temperatures are a little more extreme, the result of the recession of the coastline and its position in the mountains and foothills. The average annual temperature is 8.4 °C, undergoes major changes, with highs in July to 33 °C and minimum in December to 3 °C below zero. The vast majority of the municipal territory is devoted to forest plantations while the rest goes to the crop. The cultivated areas are devoted mainly to livestock related products, and overflowing the meadows and corn. The gardening plots are reduced to around homes and in a zone where the greenhouses are beginning to abound.

Orography

From the physical standpoint, the municipality is located in a mountain area corresponding to the Dorsal Gallega. To the east and the south are the high points of the municipality, the Cova da Serpe mountains and hills do Corno do Boi in the east, and mountains do Bocelo in the south, where we find Megalithics rest like the

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

of Forno dos Mouros and the "Pena da Moura" two round big rocks where are doubts and legends if it was the men who put the rocks there. These mountain systems are around 750 m altitude. They can locate Mount Campelo with 806 m and the mountain of Pilar with 801 m situated at the border of the province, and establishing superb views over the territory. The western areas of the municipality is around 450 to 600 meters and the mountains become in little hills and valleys where most of the population lives.

Hydrography

Although the river network of the municipality is characterized by small rivers with low flow, typical of a region of mountain peaks. In the Bocelo mountains have the head of the two major rivers of western Galicia: the Mandeo that slopes down to the Ria de

Betanzos Betanzos () is a municipality in the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña. It belongs to the comarca of Betanzos. In Roman times Betanzos was called Flauvium Brigantium or ''Brigantium''. During the ...

and

Tambre Tambre is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about north of Venice and about east of Belluno Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located a ...

flowing into the estuary of Muros and

Noia Noia () is a town and municipality in the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of the comarca with the same name. It has a population of 14,947 inhabitants (2010),Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery from Clairvaux. During the 12th and 13th centuries it flourished and was able to undertake the foundations of its own daughter house, Valdedios Abbey in Asturia. Sobrado was also given the supervision of Monfero Abbey after it joined the Cistercian Order. After a period of decline Sobrado was the first abbey in Galicia, in 1498, to join the Castilian Cistercian Congregation. The monumental new Baroque abbey church was dedicated in 1708. Most of the conventual buildings were also rebuilt at this time. The dissolution of the monasteries enforced by the government of Mendizábal in 1835 put an end to the abbey, and the abandoned buildings fell into decay. In 1954 the

monks of Viaceli Abbey in Cóbreces, west of

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, began reconstruction, having already refounded and restored Huerta Abbey in 1929, and were able to resettle the monastery with a new Trappist community in 1966.

Roman Camp of Cidadela

The camp is nestled on a plateau of 480 meters, is surrounded by the mountain of Serra da Corda, its height varies between 522 and 601 meters. The presence of the camp in this place is due to strategic reasons, such as controlling step the Roman road to "Lucus Augusti (

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

). The camp is rectangular with rounded corners. Its dimensions are 172 meters long by 140 feet wide, equivalent to an area of 2.40 ha, which are appropriate measures for the training of a military unit five. This whole camp is protected by a wall and a moat and a number of control points located near the camp . The materials found at the camp are numerous coins ranging from the time of Domitian (86) to Claudius II (270), a wide range of glass, bronze, iron objects, construction of pottery, etc..

Natural heritage

Sobrado has a rich natural heritage, with numerous rivers and lakes, one wet area declared of European interest, apart from numerous forest full of oak, chestnut, birch, etc.

The Lagoon

The

Lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

of Sobrado has an artificial origin, built between 1500 and 1530 by

monks A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

damming the waters of some small rivers to irrigate lawns, move mills or dispose of fishing . The lagoon has a circular shape that covers an approximate area of 10 hectares, with an average depth of 1.5 meters to 4.5 meters high. It is situated at an altitude of 510 meters and has an annual change in their level of about 20 centimeters. It is a good representation of the lake ecosystem in which they live frogs, ducks, dragonflies, otters and cormorants and other species. Sobrado Lagoon is the only place in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

is registered in the alga " Nitella-Flexilis. Framing the gap we can see the typical tree-gallery forest-birch, alder, ash, willow ... to give way to the Galician agricultural landscape composed of fields, crops and forests. In addition to providing shelter and food for marsh wildlife, this place we moved to a studio and entertainment.

The "Casa do Gado" Oak forest

is a beautiful oak forest over the town of Sobrado where there are also chestnut, mistletoe, birch, pine etc. In the 1980s a film was shot in the forest. The film is called the Living Forest(el bosque animado) and is based on a novel of a Galician writer Wenceslao Fernandez Florez

The 2nd oldest oak in Galicia

Situated in the village of Portacal (Cumbraos), is an oak ranked as the 2nd oldest in Galicia according to the SGHN Galicia (Galician Society of Natural History).

References

External links

Oficial Sobrado's web side

Tourist information site of Sobrado de los Monjes

The Lands of the Ulla and Tambre information site

Web site of the local juniors football team Atlético Sobrado Xuventude
{{Authority control Municipalities in the Province of A Coruña