Logbook · 3 places

What to see and do in Congosto

What to see and do in Congosto (El Bierzo, León): 3 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature

How far each place is from the centre of Congosto

Monastery of San Miguel de las Dueñas 3.9 km
Reservoir of Bárcena 4.3 km

Towns near Congosto

What to see in Cubillos del Sil 3.6 km · 2 places
What to see in Castropodame 6 km · 2 places
What to see in Bembibre 8.4 km · 2 places
What to see in Molinaseca 8.9 km · 3 places
What to see in Toreno 9.2 km · 2 places
What to see in Cabañas Raras 9.8 km · 2 places
What to see in Ponferrada 9.9 km · 4 places
What to see in Sancedo 11 km · 1 place

Spain › Castile and León › León › El Bierzo › Congosto

What to see and do in Congosto

Congosto
Village
Congosto is a municipality of about 1,400 inhabitants in the valley of the Boeza river, in the Leonese Bierzo, overlooking the Bárcena reservoir, which dams the Sil before Ponferrada; it is one of the municipalities of the Bierzo where Leonese is still spoken. The Vía Nova, a Roman road used for troop transport and for the widespread Bierzo gold mining, once ran through its territory, crossing towards Cubillos del Sil by a bridge now submerged by the reservoir. The founding of Congosto dates back to the Middle Ages, within the kingdom of León; San Miguel de las Dueñas also belongs to it, whose monastery was founded around 970–980 by Cistercian Benedictine nuns. Atop a crag, at 872 metres, stands the 13th-century sanctuary of the Virgen de la Peña, which gathers the townsfolk every 28 May.
Monastery of San Miguel de las Dueñas
Monument
The monastery of San Miguel de las Dueñas, a women's community founded between 970 and 980 by Count Gonzalo Bermúdez, a favourite of Ramiro III of León, gave rise to the town of the same name, on the banks of the Boeza river between Bembibre and Ponferrada. Its Benedictine nuns later adopted the Cistercian rule, and since its founding in the 10th century the building has undergone successive alterations that have given it a mixture of styles, with an austere conventual Baroque of the 17th and 18th centuries predominating. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) on 4 June 1992.
Reservoir of Bárcena
Nature
The Bárcena reservoir, built between 1955 and its entry into service in 1961, dams the river Sil between Santa Marina del Sil and Ponferrada, next to the boundary with Congosto, whose Peñas de la Riestra, rising above eleven hundred metres, overlook its shores. Its construction meant evacuating the villages of Bárcena del Río and Posada del Río, whose 500 residents were resettled in the newly built village of Bárcena del Bierzo. The waters also flooded the bridge of Roman origin, heir to the Via Nova, which linked Cubillos del Sil with Congosto along the Camino Real de Galicia. With a capacity of 341 cubic hectometres, the reservoir is used for hydroelectric power generation, cooling the Compostilla II thermal power plant, and irrigation of the Bierzo Bajo.