Cardona, Spain

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Cardona is a town ìn Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona; about 90 km (56 mi) northwest of the city of Barcelona, on a hill almost surrounded by the river Cardener, a branch of the Llobregat. To the east of the town, the river has been diverted through a tunnel has been dug through a spur, leaving a loop of dry river bed near the saltmine.

Near the town is an extensive deposit of rock salt. The salt forms a mountain mass (called Muntanya de Sal) covered by a thick bed of a reddish-brown clay, and apparently resting on a yellowish-grey sandstone. It is generally more or less translucent, and large masses of it are quite transparent. The hill has been worked like a mine since Roman times; pieces cut from it have been carved by artists in Cardona into images, crucifixes and many articles of an ornamental kind.

Video Cardona, Spain

Main sights

The Castle of Cardona, which is set high on a hill and contains a Parador hotel.
The 14th-century Romanesque Church of St. Vincenç.
The Church of Sant Miquel, built in the 11th century and rebuilt in the 14th century in Gothic style. It houses a precious polyptych by Pere Vall, depicting St. Anne, the Virgin and St. Amador, and a 15th-century baptismal font.

Maps Cardona, Spain

Local festivals

Caramelles: The Sunday of Passover
Mercat de la ganga: The first Sunday of February
Fira de Pentecostés: The first Sunday of June
Fira de la Llenega: The last Sunday of October
Festa Major: The second last weekend in September
Aplec de Cardona: 18 September

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Notes

The movie Chimes at Midnight, by Orson Welles, was filmed at the castle in Cardona.

Parador de Cardona | Paradores de Turismo

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Twin towns

Cardona, Uruguay

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Bibliography

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cardona". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Pedrosa, Andreu (2001). The Castle of Cardona. Sant Vincenç de Castellet: Farell. ISBN 84-930418-8-2
Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona:Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 (Spanish). ISBN 84-87135-02-1 (Catalan).