Pontevedra

For other uses, see Pontevedra (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Pontedera.

Pontevedra
Municipality
Plaza de la Leña
Church of the Pilgrim Virgin
Monument
Basilica of Saint Mary Major
City Hall
Teucer
Flag of Pontevedra
Flag
Coat of arms of Pontevedra
Coat of arms
Motto: 
Pontevedra boa vila (The good city of Pontevedra)
Map
Location of Pontevedra
Coordinates: 42°26′01″N 8°38′53″W / 42.433619°N 8.648053°W / 42.433619; -8.648053
CountrySpain
Autonomous CommunityGalicia
ProvincePontevedra
ComarcaPontevedra
ParishesAlba, Bora, O Burgo, Campañó, Campolongo, A Canicouva, Cerponzóns, Lérez, Lourizán, Marcón, Monteporreiro, Mourente, Ponte Sampaio, San Bartolomé de Pontevedra, Santa María de Pontevedra, A Virxe do Camiño de Pontevedra, Salcedo, Santa María de Xeve, Tomeza, Verducido, Xeve
Government
 • TypeAyuntamiento
 • BodyCity Council of Pontevedra
 • MayorMiguel Anxo Fernández Lores (BNG)
Area
 • Total
118.3 km2 (45.68 sq mi)
Elevation
20 m (70 ft)
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total
82,802
 • Density701.0/km2 (1,815.5/sq mi)
Demonym(s)pontevedrés (m), pontevedresa (f)
lerense
teucrino (m) teucrina (f)
Time zoneCET (GMT +1)
 • Summer (DST)CEST (GMT +2)
Postcode
36001-36164
Area code+34 986 / 886
ISO 3166-2ES-PO
WebsiteCity of Pontevedra

Pontevedra (Galician: [ˌpontɪˈβɛðɾɐ], Spanish: [ponteˈβeðɾa] ⓘ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the Comarca and Province of Pontevedra,[2] and the capital of the Rías Baixas.[3][4][5][6][7][8] It is also the capital of its own municipality which is often considered an extension of the actual city.

The city is best known for its urban planning,[9][10][11][12][13][14] pedestrianisation[15][16][17][18] and the charm of its old town.[19][20][21] Between 2013 and 2020, the city received numerous awards for its urban planning,[22] like the international European Intermodes Urban Mobility Award in 2013,[23] the 2014 Dubai International Best Practices Award for Sustainable Development awarded by UN-Habitat in partnership with Dubai Municipality[24][25] and the Excellence Award of the center for Active Design in New York City in 2015,[26] among others. The city also won the European Commission's first prize for urban safety in 2020.[27][28]

Surrounded by hills, the city is located on the edge of a ria at the mouth of the Lérez river by the sea, at the end of the Ria de Pontevedra, in the heart of the Rías Baixas. An economic centre and tourist destination, with a population of 83,260 in 2020,[29] it is at the head of a metropolitan area around its ria of more than 200,000 inhabitants comprising the municipalities of Poio, Marín, Sanxenxo, Bueu, Vilaboa, Cerdedo-Cotobade, Ponte Caldelas, Barro and Soutomaior.

Pontevedra has the second most important historic center in Galicia, after Santiago de Compostela.[30][5] A city of art and history, the city is known as The Good City (name attributed by the French author Jean Froissart in his Chronicles in the 14th century)[31][32] or The City of the Lérez. The city is also an important stopover on the Portuguese Way path of the Camino de Santiago:[3] the circular church of the Pilgrim Virgin, built for the pilgrims in the 18th century, has a floor plan in the shape of a scallop shell and there are scallop shells sculpted in the arches of the medieval Burgo Bridge.

Pontevedra city has an important group of squares of medieval origin and monumental religious buildings, including the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (16th century) with its plateresque Renaissance façade, the Baroque Church of the Pilgrim Virgin (18th century) with its rounded façade, the ruins of the Gothic Convent of San Domingo (13th century), the Gothic Church of San Francisco (13th century), the Baroque Church of San Bartholomew (end of the 17th century) and the Gothic Convent of Santa Clare (14th century). Its old town also contains numerous noble houses with coat of arms (the 15th century House of the Bells or the 18th century García Flórez Palace), mansions – the Mendoza Mansion, Villa Pilar – as well as old palaces such as the 18th century Mugartegui Palace, which is now the headquarters of the Rias Baixas Wine Regulatory Council, or the Counts of Maceda Palace, which is now a Parador.[33][34] Another major symbol of the city is the Ravachol Parrot, whose statue is in the city centre.[3] The city also has a marina close to its historic centre. At present, Pontevedra is a city in full revival. It has become the flagship city of the network of walkable cities and one of the cities in the world where children live best, known as The City of Children.[35][36]

Pontevedra is an important administrative, political, judicial, military, historical and cultural centre. In the 16th century it was the largest city in Galicia.[37] Nowadays it is marked by a large presence of administrative services (provincial Administrative Complex and provincial branches of the central government), justice (provincial court and provincial judicial complex), political (Pontevedra provincial council, provincial government delegation), military (provincial defence delegation, BRILAT) and cultural (Pontevedra Museum, Pontevedra Auditorium and Convention Centre, Principal Theatre, faculty of Fine Arts, Afundación cultural centre, Café Moderno).

  1. ^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
  2. ^ "10 destinations where you can ditch your car this summer". National Geographic. 18 May 2022. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Así es el casco antiguo de Pontevedra: por él pasa un tramo del Camino Portugués y cuenta con el 'loro más famoso del mundo'". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). 14 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Mi calle ya no es 'juancarlista': Pontevedra retira el nombre del emérito de una de sus vías". El Plural (in Spanish). 19 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Ria de Pontevedra". Xunta de Galicia. 15 September 2016.
  6. ^ "Pontevedra a través de ocho plazas y la senda de un río". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 14 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Pontevedra, la capital de todos y para todos, ciudad modelo de convivencia". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 17 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Así se vive en Pontevedra, referente para Europa". ABC (in Spanish). 1 December 2014.
  9. ^ "Pontevedra, el espejo en el que se miran las grandes ciudades europeas". El Mundo (in Spanish). 4 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Pontevedra el 'paraíso' en el que se mira Europa". El Periódico (in Spanish). 18 November 2022.
  11. ^ "The European city where everyone wants to buy a house after it banned cars". Daily Express. 2 July 2023.
  12. ^ ""Si no hubiese acceso a espacios públicos, muchos ciudadanos no habrían superado la pandemia"". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 28 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Por qué todas las ciudades miran a Pontevedra". El Diario (in Spanish). 13 January 2016.
  14. ^ "Alla scoperta di Pontevedra, la città senza auto". La Repubblica (in Italian). 29 January 2019.
  15. ^ "Pontevedra and air pollution". Financial Times. 10 March 2020. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Une ville sans voitures: Pontevedra". France 2 (in French). 5 September 2015.
  17. ^ "Diez ciudades que saben cómo cuidar a los peatones". Economía Digital (in Spanish). 13 October 2018.
  18. ^ "Da 15 anni senz'auto, è in Spagna il paradiso dei pedoni". La Repubblica (in Italian). 15 January 2016.
  19. ^ "Surprenante Galice". Le Journal de Montréal (in French). 2 October 2015.
  20. ^ "'National Geographic' se fija en esta ciudad española y elogia su "resurgir"". Huffington Post (in Spanish). 12 September 2019.
  21. ^ "El resurgir de Pontevedra". National Geographic (in Spanish). 6 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019.
  22. ^ "'For me, this is paradise': life in the Spanish city that banned cars". The Guardian. 18 September 2018.
  23. ^ ELTIS (9 June 2015). "Stockholm wins INTERMODES urban mobility award 2015". Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  24. ^ Dubai International Award for Best Practices (31 July 2019). "Pontevedra. A Model for the City Centered on People". Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  25. ^ "Las tres claves que convirtieron a Pontevedra en un ejemplo mundial de movilidad sostenible". El Confidencial (in Spanish). 22 November 2022.
  26. ^ http://awards.centerforactivedesign.org/projects/city-of-pontevedra Archived 12 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine (Centre for Active Design, New York). Access date 5 May 2015
  27. ^ "1st EU Urban Road Safety Award". European Mobility Week. Archived from the original on 18 May 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Pontevedra gana el premio de Seguridad Vial Urbana de la Comisión Europea" (in Spanish). La Voz de Galicia.
  29. ^ "Real Decreto 1147/2020, de 15 de diciembre, por el que se declaran oficiales las cifras de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal referidas al 1 de enero de 2020" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado.
  30. ^ "Los 10 mejores planes y cosas que ver en Pontevedra de visita". El Español (in Spanish). 25 September 2020.
  31. ^ "Pontevedra, bonne ville..." Pontevedra Viva (in Spanish). 8 January 2016.
  32. ^ "Pontevedra: la ciudad en la que los niños se zamparon los coches". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 2019.
  33. ^ "Parador de Pontevedra". Paradores.
  34. ^ "Cifras de oro para el parador de Pontevedra". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 8 December 2018.
  35. ^ "Bambini, ecco le città dove vivono meglio. Gli esperti: "Non bastano parchi gioco e gelaterie"". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 15 December 2019.
  36. ^ "Pontevedra para niños, en cuatro ideas de Tonucci". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 23 September 2016.
  37. ^ "Fortes describe la Pontevedra del siglo XVI como "abierta y divertida"" (in Spanish). 24 August 2005.