Suarbol is a village belonging to the shire of '' Los Ancares'' situated in the region of

El Bierzo El Bierzo (; or ''El Bierzu''; ) is a '' comarca'' in the province of León, Spain. Its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital. The territory of El Bierzo inclu ...

within the

province of León León (, ; ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the c ...

( Castile & León,

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 ...

). Both Suarbol and its neighbouring town Balouta are the last villages of the

before crossing towards the province of Lugo ( Galicia,

) At present, Suarbol has seven inhabitants, reaching 34 in summer vacations. The locals live mainly by having farms. The inhabitants of Suarbol for the most part migrated to Barcelona in the 1950s and the 1960s, and still keep their houses in this village nowadays. The one that migrated, usually make their way back to Suarbol in holidays, generally in order to spend their summer holidays here. The first name of Suarbol was ''Ambasaguas'' (that means ''surrounded by water'', since the village is surrounded by two rivers: one at the entrance of the village and the other at the exit. Suarbol 01 by-dpc

Heritage

The main element defining Suarbol is its traditional architecture buildings: horreos (a sort of granary typical in Northern Spain) and

palloza A palloza (also known as pallouza or pallaza) is a traditional dwelling of the Serra dos Ancares of northwest Spain. Structure A palloza is a traditional thatched house as found in Leonese county of El Bierzo, Serra dos Ancares in Galicia, an ...

s (a sort of oval-shaped house typical in Northern Spain). Suarbol was famous for owning the biggest palloza in the shire of ''Los Ancares'', but unfortunately it was burned in 1957; the site, where it stood, already remains. However some other pallozas in good state of preservation stand and can be visited in the village. There are also some ''horreos'' in square-shaped floor and in slate roofs (similar to the ''Asturian horreo'') in Suarbol. In the past, most building roofs were made of straw and were known as teitos, nonetheless most building roofs today are made of slate just like most of the towns and villages of the region of

. The most outstanding monument is the Parish Church of Suarbol. It is a Baroque style building and was declared '' Good of Cultural Interest'' in 1995 by the Spanish government. The graveyard of the town is inside the church yard, a characteristic uncommon in Spain. Suarbol also owns other monuments like the ''Roman Causeway of Suarbol'', a path linking the gold mines of Ibias in

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

to other gold mines in the region of

in the Roman times. In Suarbol, some stone carvings dating back to the

Castro culture Castro culture (, , , , meaning "culture of the hillforts") is the archaeological term for the material culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day northern and central Portugal together with the Spanish regions of ...

can be found in the village and their meaning is unknown. Suarbol 02 by-dpc

Feasts

The fest of Suarbol it on August 17, in honour to Virgin Mary.

References

{{listref

External links

Website of the Biosphere Reserve of the Leonese Ancares (in Spanish)
El Bierzo

Heritage

Feasts

See also

References

External links