Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: verraco

Due to the rural exodus, San Felices de los Gallegos now only has around 400 inhabitants. After the reconquest (reconquista) from the Moors and the repopulation (repoblación) of the almost deserted mountain region in the 11th and 12th centuries, the area was disputed for centuries between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Kingdom of León (later the Kingdom of Castile). Long before the Romans came to Spain, tribal groups of the Celtic tribe of the Vettones settled here. They left us this stone sculpture. A ‘verraco’ depicting a boar or a bull, It is localle known as "El burro de St Anton".

The area has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The first foundation of a larger settlement can be dated to the 6th century BC - the Vettones, who were already under Celtic influence at this time, founded the town under the name Miróbriga. During the conquest of Lusitania, the city was conquered by the Romans and called Augustobriga. After the reconquest in the 12th century, the city was repopulated and walled in by King Ferdinand II of León. The old Visigothic bishopric of Calabria was converted into a new bishopric as a suffragan of the diocese of Santiago de Compostela. This was confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1175 and led to the construction of the city's cathedral. The first bishop of whom anything certain is known was Pedro (1165). Although the city flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries, its location between the Portuguese border and Salamanca meant that it was the scene of several armed conflicts. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), large parts of the city were destroyed. Today the city has around 12,000 inhabitants. Verraco The Spanish word “verraco” refers to wild boars but the sculptures seem to represent not only pigs but also other animals (bulls, bears). They are attributed to the Vettones, one of the pre-Roman people.

Under the Visigoths, Ávila was one of the most important cities in the kingdom due to its proximity to the capital Toledo. From the 8th to the 11th centuries, Ávila was Moorish. The situation in the contested borderland between the Muslim and Christian worlds prevented prosperity, which only began in the 15th century when the fighting moved further south. The city experienced its heyday in the 16th century. The plague, the expulsion of the Moriscos (baptized Moors), and the emigration of many people to America caused Ávila's gradual decline, from which the city has only slowly recovered since the 19th century. Today the population is around 60,000. The church is outside the city walls. It existed before 1150 and was rebuilt in the Romanesque style at the end of the 12th century. In the 19th century, the church was profaned and later served as a storage room and workshop for a gas station. In 1960 the building was acquired by the state. It is currently an annex of the Ávila Museum. The former church is now filled with the museum's exhibits. Verracos de Martiherrero The Spanish word “verraco” refers to wild boars but the sculptures seem to represent not only pigs but also other animals (bulls, bears). They are attributed to the Vettones, one of the pre-Roman people. The ones exhibited here belonged to a funerary monument from the 2nd century AC. One of them has a Roman inscription.