Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Quintana del Marco

What to see and do in Quintana del Marco (La Bañeza, León): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities

How far each place is from the centre of Quintana del Marco

Roman villa of Los Villares 1.7 km

Towns near Quintana del Marco

Spain › Castile and León › León › La Bañeza › Quintana del Marco

What to see and do in Quintana del Marco

Quintana del Marco
Village
Quintana del Marco is a village in the province of León, with about 300 inhabitants, split into two quarters by a bridge crossing the Jinis river. In Astur times there was a hillfort here belonging to the Garnes tribe, on which the Romans later built a fort and, on each side of the river, two villas, alongside the Roman villa of Los Villares, which yielded the mosaic of Hylas and the Nymphs and a bust of Marcus Aurelius now kept in the bell tower of the church of San Pedro. Other Roman mosaics have come to light beneath the cornfields of the territory. Its main festival, the pilgrimage of the Virgin of Secos, is held on the first weekend after Holy Week and brings together the banners of León, the singing to the Ramo — made of foam wreaths — and the veneration of the image worshipped in the church of El Salvador.
Roman villa of Los Villares
Nature
A site declared an archaeological zone on 22 April 1996, never systematically excavated and known only from chance finds since the end of the 19th century. Its extent and its mosaics mark it out as the richest villa in the province.
Bust of Marcus Aurelius from the bell-gable
Curiosity
Taken from the villa of Los Villares, the bust was set into the bellcote of one of the village's two churches. It was stolen in the first fortnight of February 2013 and the Guardia Civil managed to recover it in Seville on 29 July of that year.
Mosaic of Hylas and the Nymphs
Curiosity
A Roman floor that came to light under the maize fields of the district and is today displayed in the museum housed in the convent of San Marcos, in León. It depicts the carrying off of the youth Hylas by the nymphs during the Argonauts' expedition.
Festival of Pascuilla y el canto del Ramo
Activity
On the first weekend after Semana Santa more than twenty pendones from the neighbouring villages surround the Virgen de Secos. A 19th-century ramo of roscas is sung telling of the miracle of a child saved from a well, and it is then auctioned.