Pontevedra
Municipality
Plaza de la Leña Church of the Pilgrim Virgin Monument Basilica of Saint Mary Major City Hall Teucer
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  Pontevedra boa vila (The good city of Pontevedra)
Location of Pontevedra
Coordinates: 42°26′01″N 8°38′53″W / 42.433619°N 8.648053°W / 42.433619; -8.648053
Country	Spain
Region	Galicia
Province	Pontevedra
Comarca	Pontevedra
Parishes	Alba, 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
• Type	Ayuntamiento
• Body	City Council of Pontevedra
• Mayor	Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores (BNG)
Area
• Total	118.3 km2 (45.68 sq mi)
Elevation	20 m (70 ft)
Population  (2018)[1]
• Total	82,802
• Density	701.0/km2 (1,815.5/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	pontevedrés (m), pontevedresa (f) lerense teucrino (m) teucrina (f)
Time zone	CET (GMT +1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (GMT +2)
Postcode	36001-36164
Area code	+34 986 / 886
ISO 3166-2	ES-PO
Website	City 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][31] 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)^[32][33] 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.^[34][35] 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.^[36][37]

Pontevedra is an important administrative, political, judicial, military, historical and cultural centre. In the 16th century it was the largest city in Galicia.^[38] 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).

History

Name

The name of the city is likely a Latin composite of pons, pontis (bridge) and veter, vetera, veterum (old, long established). In Galicia, Latin pons, a masculine word, became feminine, hence Vulgar Latin Ponte Vetera,^[39] which became by the 13th century the modern Galician language toponymy Pontevedra, "the old bridge", in reference to an old Roman bridge across the Lérez River which had been located near the 12th century Burgo bridge that remains in place today.

The name of the town derives from the Latin pontem veteram, which means "old bridge" and refers to the first bridge that the Romans built to cross the Lérez River and the Ria de Pontevedra. However, nowadays there are historians who say that since in ancient Latin, ponto (pontus) meant sea and vedra means green, its name could be due to the particular greenness of the sea caused by the seaweed tides, being the meaning of the name of the city that of the green sea.^[40]

Pre-history and antiquity

A local legend relates the foundation of Pontevedra to Teucer, hero of the Trojan War, a legend which was reinforced with the suspicion that Greek traders might have arrived to the Rias Baixas area in ancient times.^[41] However, historians and archaeologists tend to agree that the initial settlement was probably formed during the integration of Gallaecia (old Galicia) into the Roman Empire (circa 1st century BC)(Reference is required). The current name of the city is a Latin composite, derived from Pons/Pontis (bridge) and Veteris/Vetera (old), hence Ponte(m)Vetera(m), and thence Galician language Ponte-Vedra, "the old bridge", in reference to the old Roman bridge across Lérez River. Well-connected since Roman times, Pontevedra consolidated itself as an intermediate town during the Suebic period (circa 5th–6th century AD).

Medieval and early modern

During the 12th century Pontevedra rose as an important commercial centre; it reached its zenith in the 15th century as a trade and communications hub. Pontevedra was the main Galician urban centre. In fact, Pontevedra has the second largest "old town" in Galicia, only after Santiago de Compostela. Pontevedra was on the route of the Way of Saint James, namely its southern or the Portuguese Way. The Church of the Pilgrim Virgin, with its distinctive scallop-shaped floor plan, is a destination for tourists and pilgrims.

In the 16th century it still was a commercial city, with an increase in fishing. At that time, Pontevedra was the largest Galician port, as it was a secure port open to the sea. One of Christopher Columbus' ships, the carrack Santa Maria, originally named La Gallega ("The Galician"), was built in Pontevedra.^[42][43] It was in centuries later that the sedimentation caused by Lérez river gradually rendered the harbour unsuitable for large-scale navigation. The end of the 16th century marked the beginning of the decline of the city, a decline which had already started for the rest of Galicia from the end of the 15th century.

Late modern

The situation would worsen during the 17th and 18th centuries. The port drastically reduced its activity due to the mentioned geographical causes. Furthermore, political decisions and dynastic conflicts provoked a general decay in trade, thus resulting in the depopulation of the city; the population was reduced in half during that time, also affected by epidemics.^[44]

In the beginning of the 19th century fishing, arts and crafts kept the economy going. With the establishment of new provincial division in 1833 Pontevedra saw itself transformed into a provincial capital. The city then grew and became an administrative, cultural and commercial centre. The introduction of the railway also reconnected the city with the rest of the country, after having lost its harbour. All in all, Pontevedra sees in this century a cultural, economic and urban revival. It is in Pontevedra when, in 1853, Xoán Manuel Pintos publishes the first book in modern Galician, A gaita gallega.

20th century

Pontevedra entered the 20th century with great prospects. The city was at the heart of Galician culture and politics. Galicianists – such as Alexandre Bóveda and Castelao – took up residence in the city, where in 1931 they founded the Partido Galeguista ("Galicianist Party"), the origin of contemporary Galician nationalism. However, the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and subsequent Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975) suddenly ended Pontevedra's progression. Political repression and economic hardships forced many to emigrate.

In the 1940s–1960s the government of the Franco dictatorship granted a Free Zone and a Development Pole to the neighbouring city of Vigo, a rare case in Spain (for a city that was not a provincial capital), which favoured the economic development of this city in the province of Pontevedra to the detriment of the provincial capital, Pontevedra,^[45] becoming rival cities.^[46] The recovery of the local economy only partially began in the 1960s, with the introduction of some industrial activity. However, these very activities would later cause serious environmental and health concerns, forcing the eventual closure of some of them.

With the end of the dictatorship in 1975 the construction sector also developed. Improvements in the communications network during the 1980s and 1990s helped Pontevedra to regain weight in the Rias Baixas region, acting again as a trade hub and focusing on its administrative functions as provincial capital. The introduction of university studies in the city during the 1990s contributed further to the growth of the city. Since 1999 Pontevedra has seen intense urban renewal and cultural revival, positively influencing the local economy.

21st century

In the 21st century the city of Pontevedra has undergone both a cultural renaissance and an urban transformation, taking in the pedestrianisation of the city centre, extension of cycle lanes, recovery of the historical and natural heritage, rehabilitation of buildings and public spaces, and an increase in green areas and pedestrian walkways. Unlike the other six large cities of Galicia, which have lost inhabitants to neighboring municipalities, Pontevedra's population is currently increasing.^{[citation needed]} It has become one of the most accessible cities for disabled people, receiving a national prize for this in 2006, along with the international European INTERMODES Urban Mobility Award in 2013, the 2014 Dubai International Best Practices Award for Sustainable Development awarded by UN-Habitat in partnership with Dubai Municipality and the Award of the Center of Active Design in New York City in 2015. Pontevedra's model for responsible mobility is currently seen as an international reference.^{[47][48][49][50]}

Pontevedra city, night view.

Geography

Physical

Location and subdivisions

The municipality of Pontevedra is located between 42°20' and 42°30' north and 8°33' and 8°41' west, in the southwestern Galician coast, an area popularly known as Rias Baixas. The municipality covers 118.3 km² (45.7 sq mi) and is about 20 km (12 mi) wide from north to south.

The city sits at the end of the ria that bears its name, occupying the valleys of the Lérez and Tomeza rivers. It extends southwards to the mouth of river Verdugo in Ponte Sampaio. It is surrounded by four mountainous regions divided by two faults, one stretching north–south and one from northeast to southwest.

To the north it borders the municipalities of Barro, Moraña and Campo Lameiro; to the east, Cotobade and Ponte Caldelas; to the south, Soutomaior, Vilaboa and Marín, and to the west, Poio and the ria, leading to the Atlantic Ocean.

The main parroquias (parishes) of Pontevedra are: Alba, Bora, Campañó, A Canicouva, Cerponzóns, Estribela, Lérez, Lourizán, Marcón, Mourente, Ponte Sampaio, Salcedo, San Xosé, Santa María de Xeve, Tomeza, Verducido, Xeve.

The neighbourhoods or main areas of Pontevedra are: the old town, the city centre-Ensanche, O Burgo, Campolongo, A Moureira, Mollavao, Monte Porreiro, A Parda, A Seca, Valdecorvos, Salgueiriños, Gorgullón. The residential area of A Caeira, although officially located in the municipality of Poio, is often considered as just another neighbourhood of Pontevedra since the vast majority of the residents work in Pontevedra and relate to the city.

Climate

Pontevedra has a humid oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb). The average temperature is 15 °C (59 °F), with a daily average of 9.5 °C (49.1 °F) in January and 20.5 °C (68.9 °F) in July. These are unusually mild for a city so far north, and are due to Pontevedra's proximity to the sea and to the moderating effect of the ria. Yet, like all the Galician coast, Pontevedra is subject to occasional Atlantic storms in winter. These are characterised by a quick drop in temperature, rain and gales. With eleven of the twelve months above 10 °C (50 °F) Pontevedra is in the maritime subtropical climate zone under the Trewartha climate classification, a classification it falls short of under the Köppen classification due to the cool summer nights.

Overall Pontevedra, as Galicia, is rainy, especially at the end of autumn and winter, with an annual average precipitation of 1,700 to 1,900 millimetres (66.9 to 74.8 in), and around 134 rainy days per year. Summer is drier, generally speaking, making Pontevedra the sunniest city in Galicia with 2248 hours of sunshine per year.^[51]