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36-656: Astorga lies in the area of the Maragatos , a small ethnic and cultural community with distinctive customs and architecture. The town lies at the junction of the French route of the Camino de Santiago, the most popular route, and the Silver Route from Mérida in southern Spain, an alternative route of the Way of St. James ( Spanish : Camino de Santiago ). Saint Turibius of Astorga was bishop of

72-689: A castra on the Leonesian land. This castra was strategically placed between the Jerga  [ es ] and Tuerto  [ es ] rivers. The castra was important because of Astures revolutions (22 BC) and proximity to gold mines of Las Medulas . After the Punic Wars in 146 BC, the Romans turned their attention to conquering Hispania . The tribe of the Gallaeci 60,000 strong, according to Paulus Orosius , faced

108-580: A campaign of the Peninsular War. Astorga was located on the flank of the French invasion of Spain and Portugal, and was meant to be used as a headquarters during the campaign. Because of its location, Astorga was a place for pilgrims to rest and get ready to climb the mountains in the west or to rejuvenate after climbing east. Astorga had 21 hospices. Today, there is the Hospital de las Hermana de la Caridad which

144-628: A memorandum warning that Priscillianism was by no means dead, reporting that it numbered even bishops among its supporters, and asking the aid of the Roman See. The distance was insurmountable in the 5th century. Germanic tribes, the Visigoths, took control over Astorga and destroyed the Roman city. However, it prospered with the help of Saints Turibius , Fructuosus, and Valerius. After the Berbers ' withdrawal to join

180-553: A stop in Astorga. The movie The Way is an inspirational film of 2010 starring Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez walking the Camino de Santiago . During the second half of the 19th century, Astorga enjoyed the arrival of the railway and development of the current city, which expands outside its Roman walls. Astorga is again the nexus of a significant network of road connections, and it recovered

216-581: A striking regional dress that made them stand out when they travelled to other parts of Spain. Cocido Maragato ( Cocíu maragatu in Leonese language ) is a traditional local soup dish with meat. Tierra de Maragatos has its own traditional way of building stone houses with large doors. Some of them have been preserved. 42°25′11″N 6°11′39″W  /  42.4197°N 6.1941°W  / 42.4197; -6.1941 Las M%C3%A9dulas Las Médulas ( Spanish pronunciation: [las ˈmeðulas] )

252-407: Is a historic gold-mining site near the town of Ponferrada in the comarca of El Bierzo ( province of León , Castile and León , Spain ). It was the most important gold mine , as well as the largest open-pit gold mine in the entire Roman Empire . Las Médulas Cultural Landscape is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site . Advanced aerial surveys conducted in 2014 using LIDAR have confirmed

288-546: Is a medical facility in front of the cathedral that was built after the destruction of the 12th-century hospital that was consequently destroyed in 1756. Camino de Santiago ("St. James's Way") is a 781 km (485 mi) pilgrimage to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela where the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried. This has been the third-largest pilgrimage in Christianity for more than 1,000 years, and it comprises

324-643: Is an ancient commercial and pilgrimage path that connects Astorga to Mérida. It was conceived and built as a trade route for the exploitation of gold. The Roman causeway allowed the Romans to conquer tribes such as the Callaici, the Astures, and the Vacceos . Pliny the Elder in 73 AD spoke of Vía de la Plata. The road stretched around 900 km (560 mi) and the Roman's highest importance for he gold mines of Las Médulas and

360-459: Is still preserved. Because Romans had control of the city, Christianity became very popular in this area during the early church. There is a legend that St. James (Santiago) and St. Paul both preached in Astorga and there is proof that there was a bishopric around the 3rd century. At the very beginning of Leo I's pontificate, in the years 444–447, Turibius , the bishop of Astorga in León, sent to Rome

396-778: The Castro cultures. Astorga, in the Iron Age , came under the cultural influence of the Celts ; the local Celtic peoples inhabited the area around 275 BC, known as the Astures and the Cantabri . Later become one of the Roman strongholds in the region they called Asturica . During Cantabrian wars (28–19 BC), Roman legions VI Victrix (Sixth Victorious Legion) and X Gemina (Tenth Twin Legion) were sent and established

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432-779: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Astorga . The title of Bishop of Astorga is one of the oldest religious charges of Europe. Astorga was sacked by the Visigothic King Theodoric II sometime during time of his rule. On 5 October 456, at the Battle at the Campus Paramus, 19 km (12 mi) from Astorga on the Urbicus ( Órbigo ), Theoderic II, Eighth Visigoth King from 453 to 466 AD, lead an army into Spain and defeated Rechiar , Suebic King of Galicia from 488 to 12/456. During

468-508: The 11th century, when the city became a major stop on the French route for the pilgrims to the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela . Construction of the cathedral began in the 15th century and finished in the late 18th century. Jews were living in the fortified section of Astorga as early as the 11th century. Later they inhabited two quarters in the city. A street called the Garden (Paseo) of

504-503: The Maragato muleteers made Astorga a pioneer in the elaboration of chocolate from the 17th century. In 1914 there were 49 chocolate manufacturers in town. In 1747 Antonio Martín's book contains the recipe Mantecadas de Astorga (a mantecada is a muffin-sized cake similar to pound cake French madeleine cakes). The European Union designated them an historically and geographically significant part of Spanish cuisine . References indicating that

540-500: The Middle Ages. The city had thermal baths with hot, warm, cold water systems, sauna's and two main sewer system still in use today. Ruins of Roman baths are still visible today. In 35 AD as mining plans developed, this Roman Hispania castra was redesigned and built with the help of the army, into a city. A provincial capital, and the meeting-place of four military roads. Vía de la Plata (Silver Way) or Ruta de la Plata (Silver Route)

576-754: The Roman forces led by Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 137 BC in a battle at the River Douro . From this time, Gallaic fighters joined the Roman legions , to serve as far away as Dacia and Britain. The final extinction of Celtic resistance was the aim of the violent and ruthless Cantabrian Wars fought under the Emperor Augustus from 28 to 19 BC. The Roman city was founded in 14 BC, being entitled by Emperor Octavian as Asturica Augusta now known as Astorga. It became an important administrative and military centre. The Roman walls were rebuilt by Bishop Nuño around 1242 and they underwent several repairs during

612-567: The Synagogue formerly ran beside the old city wall. Many Jews in Astorga were forcibly converted to Christianity in 1230–31. Although there is no record of the fate of the Jews of Astorga during the 1391 massacres, they suffered in the persecutions of 1412. At the synod held in Valladolid in 1432, the Astorga community claimed privileges exempting them from payment of crown taxes. The community existed until

648-818: The area allowed for new historical interpretations that greatly enriched the study of Roman mining. A positive result of these systematic studies was the inclusion of Las Médulas as a World Heritage Site in 1997. Since then, the management of the Cultural Park has been monitored by the Las Médulas Foundation, which includes local, regional, and national stakeholders, both public and private. Currently, Las Médulas serves as an example of good research-management-society applied to heritage. The massive scale of mining at Las Médulas and other Roman sites had considerable environmental impact . Ice core data taken from Greenland suggest that mineral air pollution peaked during

684-489: The area, however, have been carried out since 1988 by the research group Social Structure and Territory-Landscape Archaeology of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research ( CSIC ). As a result, Las Médulas ceased to be only a gold mine with its techniques and became a cultural landscape in which all the implications of Roman mining were made apparent. The survey and excavations of pre-Roman and Roman settlements throughout

720-597: The blazing Berber rebellion (739–742) and the campaigns of Alfonso I of Asturias (742 – 757) against the Andalusians , the city was abandoned, being in the largely empty buffer zone between Moors and Christians known at the time as "The Desert of the Duero," and was part of the Repoblación ("repopulation") effort carried out a century later during the reign of Ordoño I of Asturias (850 – 866). Astorga suffered from decadence until

756-579: The city in the 5th century. The timeline of history that includes Astorga has artifactual evidence stretching back over 200,000 years, predating the Paleolithic . 210 km (130 mi) away from Astorga in the Atapuerca Mountains ( Sierra de Atapuerca ) exists a rich fossil record of the earliest humans in Spain. The scientific study of these remains provide priceless information about the appearance and

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792-455: The copper mines of Rio Tinto . Asturica was the main city in northwest Spain during the Roman Empire. Plinius Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander called the city Urbs magnifica ("magnificent city"). The Via Platea went from Asturica (Astorga) to Emerita (Mérida). One of the first three bishoprics in Spain was founded in Astorga, known as

828-453: The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Jews established their trades in the city. To this day, Astorga is the home of value-adding and special products. In 1528 Hernán Cortés brought Mexican Cacao bean to Spain. In the museum of chocolate in Astorga, 16th-century hot chocolate mugs are displayed. One sees Astorga chocolate all over the region. The Marquisate of Astorga, the Diocese and

864-413: The heavy gold particles to be collected. Detailed discussion of the methods of underground mining follows, once the alluvial placer deposits had been exhausted and the mother lode sought and discovered. Many such deep mines have been found in the mountains around Las Médulas. Mining would start with the building of aqueducts and tanks above the mineral veins, and a method called hushing used to expose

900-819: The recipe originated with a nun from the Holy Spirit Convent in Astorga, who later left the convent and popularized the product. In the Official Journal of the European Union UNE-EN 45011 Regulatory Board, through the Certification Committee, established standards for Mantecadas de Astorga. Astorga's Chamber of Commerce reports the amount of mantecadas de Astorga carried by the Spanish railways in 1930 (the Spanish Northern and Western railway company)

936-411: The second half of the 1st century AD. Pliny the Elder , who was a procurator in the region in 74 AD, described a technique of hydraulic mining that may be based on direct observation at Las Médulas: What happens is far beyond the work of giants. The mountains are bored with corridors and galleries made by lamplight with a duration that is used to measure the shifts. For months, the miners cannot see

972-434: The social and economical vibrancy, which has tourism as one of its main focal points. Maragato La Maragatería or País de los Maragatos ( Tierra de Maragatos in Leonese language ), is an ancient historical region or traditional comarca in the landlocked Province of León , Spain . It borders with La Cepeda comarca in the north, La Valduerna in the south, with the comarcas of El Bierzo and La Cabrera in

1008-498: The streams of the La Cabrera district (where the rainfall in the mountains is relatively high) at a range of altitudes. The same aqueducts were used to wash the extensive alluvial gold deposits. What became the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis was conquered in 25 BC by the emperor Augustus . Before the Roman conquest, the indigenous inhabitants obtained gold from alluvial deposits. Large-scale production did not begin until

1044-480: The sunlight and many of them die inside the tunnels. This type of mine has been given the name of ruina montium . The cracks made in the entrails of the stone are so dangerous that it would be easier to find purpurine or pearls at the bottom of the sea than make scars in the rock. How dangerous we have made the Earth! Pliny also describes the methods used to wash the ores using smaller streams on riffle tables to enable

1080-458: The veins under the overburden. The remains of such a system have been well studied at Dolaucothi Gold Mines , a smaller-scale site in South Wales . Opencast methods would be pursued by fire-setting , which involved building fires against the rock and quenching with water. The weakened rock could then be attacked mechanically and the debris swept away by waves of water. Only when all opencast work

1116-702: The waves of invasion of the peninsula by the Germanic tribes , one bishop was the noted Turibius . He documented the conversion of the Suebic King Remismund to Arianism, and worked to restore the churches destroyed by the Visigoths . The bishop was able to travel to Rome, from which he brought back what is believed to be a relic of the True Cross , for which he founded the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana , where it

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1152-475: The way these humans lived. The regional government of Castile and León has designated the site an Espacio cultural . Tin artifacts dated to c. 2750 BC using metallurgical diffusion chronologic dating were found in the area of Astorga. Artifacts such as tube and double ring axes were located in Astorga and are significant to an Atlantic cultural complex from the Bronze Age period c. 1300–700 BC that are included in

1188-597: The west and southwest, and in the east with La Vega del Tuerto and La Valduerna. La Maragatería encompasses lesser comarcas, like the Alta Maragatería , Baja Maragatería and the Somoza Comarca . Its inhabitants are known as "Maragatos". Leonese language is widely used in this shire. The main municipalities making up the comarca are: The Maragatos form a small ethnic and cultural community with distinctive customs and architecture. The Maragata women used to wear

1224-486: The wide extent of the Roman-era works. The spectacular landscape of Las Médulas resulted from the ruina montium (wrecking of the mountains), a Roman mining technique described by Pliny the Elder in 77 AD. The technique employed was a type of hydraulic mining which involved undermining a mountain with large quantities of water. The water was supplied by interbasin transfer . At least seven long aqueducts tapped

1260-668: Was 208 tons. A high percentage of the product is sold to tourists along with the well known Hojaldres de Astorga ( puff pastry of Astorga). During the Peninsular War , Astorga was besieged by the French Napoleonic troops. Astorga was the farthest town in the Iberian Peninsula in which the Emperor Napoleon resided. The Siege of Astorga in 21 March – 22 April 1810 was an attempt by French forces to capture Astorga, Spain, in

1296-519: Was uneconomical would the vein be pursued by tunneling and stoping . Pliny also stated that 20,000 Roman pounds (6,560 kg) of gold were extracted each year. The exploitation, involving 60,000 free workers, brought 5,000,000 Roman pounds (1,640,000 kg) in 250 years. Parts of the aqueducts are still well preserved in precipitous locations, including some rock-cut inscriptions . Research on Las Médulas had been mainly carried out by Claude Domergue (1990). Systematic archaeological studies of

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