Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in Laguna de Negrillos

What to see and do in Laguna de Negrillos (El Páramo, León): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

Towns near Laguna de Negrillos

Spain › Castile and León › León › El Páramo › Laguna de Negrillos

What to see and do in Laguna de Negrillos

Laguna de Negrillos
Village
Laguna de Negrillos is a town of about 1,055 inhabitants situated in the south of the León comarca of the Páramo, at 778 metres above sea level, near the Órbigo and Esla rivers; the municipality also includes the settlements of Cabañeros, Conforcos and Villamorico. It received a charter (fuero) from Alfonso IX in 1205 and preserves its medieval castle and the church of San Juan, from the 15th and 16th centuries. Beside the village stands the Laguna Jimena, a remnant of the many natural lagoons that once dotted the area, where poplars grow along with the odd old negrillo elm, a species now scarce due to Dutch elm disease. Every year it holds a Corpus Christi celebration declared of regional tourist interest.
Castle-alcázar of Laguna de Negrillos
Monument
A fortress on a quadrangular plan of more than eleven hundred square metres, with a battlemented five-storey keep, the Queen's tower and two round towers at the southern corners. It was declared a monument on 22 April 1949.
Church of Nuestra Señora del Arrabal
Monument
Raised in the 11th century as a synagogue in the outskirts, outside the town walls, and almost entirely rebuilt in the 16th after the expulsion of the Jews. It holds an altarpiece with thirteen 16th-century panels on the birth and death of Christ.
Church of San Juan Bautista de Laguna
Monument
A parish church built between the 15th and 16th centuries, with a doorway framed by six columns with fluted shafts and Tuscan capitals. It preserves a circular holy water stoup with a strange face carved on the front.
The last negrillo elms
Nature
The elm that gives the town its name, fifteen to twenty metres tall with toothed, asymmetrical leaves, has all but disappeared since the 1970s because of Dutch elm disease. A few large elms survive, along with root suckers known as olmedillas.
Corpus Christi of Laguna de Negrillos
Activity
A deeply rooted procession organised since 1648 by the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, probably originating between the 16th and 17th centuries as the representation of an auto sacramental, a trace of which survives in the use of masks. Its central figure is San Sebastián, who represents a Roman centurion martyred for his faith and walks the streets challenging the public to deny theirs, until he acknowledges it with a bow, face uncovered, before the Blessed Sacrament. He is followed by the apostles, except Judas, Saint Michael, Saint John the Baptist -who walks barefoot-, Saint John the Evangelist and Jesus Christ, along with the dancers, who represent guardian angels of the Sacred Host and never turn their backs on it. The central events take place in Most Holy Sacrament Square.
Charter of Laguna de Negrillos
Historical milestone
In 1205 Alfonso IX of León granted a fuero to the town once its resettlement was complete. Laguna became the capital of a seigneury of thirteen villages, with a weekly market whose peace was guaranteed by a surety of seventy sueldos.
Kidney bean and chorizo of Laguna
Food and drink
The native variety of the Leonese flood plains and lowlands is stewed with chorizo made just after the pig-killing. At Carnival orejas are made, and at the end of April, at the Voto, the Virgin's roscas.