Muntanyola

Muntanyola
Municipality
Muntanyola town hall
Muntanyola Location in Catalonia
Coordinates:
Country	Spain
Community	Catalonia
Province	Barcelona
Comarca	Osona
Government
• Mayor	Ramon Llora Almeda (2015) (Convergència i Unió (CiU))
Area
• Total	40.3 km2 (15.6 sq mi)
Elevation	807 m (2,648 ft)
Population (2014)
• Total	595
• Density	15/km2 (38/sq mi)
Website	www.muntanyola.cat

Muntanyola is a municipality in the comarca of Osona, Catalonia, northern Spain.

General description

Parish Church of St. Stephen in the hamlet of Múnter (Muntanyola municipality)

The village of Muntanyola is a-typical in that it does not have a center. 75% of the municipality's area consists of forested hills between 650 and 1000 m. altitude, with scattered farms and fields. The build-up area is in the higher elevations and mainly consists of two real estate developments - in Spanish: 'urbanizations' - called Muntanyola and Fontanelles, respectively. Both these neighbourhoods consist of lanes with upmarket free-standing villa's with large gardens. Centrally located in the 'Muntanyola urbanization' are a tennis court, sports hall, swimming pool, playground and restaurant. There are no shops and there is no school. Children attend school in neighbouring towns such as Tona, L'Estany or Santa Eulàlia de Riuprimer. The church and town hall stand rather isolated in the hills on the northern side of the Muntanyola-development. The municipality also includes the old hamlet of Múnter in its lower elevations, sloping down to the Plain of Vic (Plana de Vic). The municipality is also odd in that its territory consists of four non-contiguous areas, i.e. a main area with three exclaves. Muntanyola, Fontanelles and Múnter are all in the main area, but Múnter can only be reached from Muntanyola via the territory of the adjacent municipality of Tona.

Population and economy

The current structure of the municipality is reflected in its population curve. From 1900-1950 the population remained stable between 400 and 450 people, sharply decreasing from the 1960s with only 171 people remaining in the early 1990s. This decrease is likely due to people moving away from isolated farms. Starting in the 1990s, a sharp increase takes place to 568 in 2011, simultaneously with a 2.5-fold increase in the number of homes: undoubtedly due to the construction of both 'urbanizations'.

The economy of Muntanyola is based on rainfed agriculture, forestry and cattle raising for the sausage industry. There are more than 10,000 pigs in Muntanyola. Tourism is not a major source of income.

History

Muntanyola and Múnter are very old. The church of St. Quiricus and St. Julietta of Muntanyola was first documented in 938. The current church (on the same location) is from the 17th century, built and decorated with the simple forms of the Spanish Baroque. It holds some baroque paintings. The hamlet of Múnter and its church of St. Stephen appeared in documents for the first time in 929 under the name villa de Montari. Both churches are the main places of interest in the municipality. Múnter also had a castle on a small hill close to the church. Of this castle only a ruined wall segment remains.

References

• 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).

External links

• Official page of the municipality
• Map of Muntanyola municipality
• Detailed information on Muntanyola from the Statistics Institute of Catalonia