The Pre-Roman Fortress of the City (O CASTRO DA CIDÁ)

About this heritage

Located at the most western part of the Barbanza Peninsula, it is on a small mountain with an altitude of 210 meters. Because of its panoramic view, this mountain became a strategic place, from which one can see the Arousa Estuary, Corrubedo Cape, including its village and the Dune System of its Natural Park, and the Lagoons of Carregal and Vixán. A community of the Castro culture chose this area as their settlement more than 2500 years ago.

The archaeological site extends over 20,000 square meters. It is one of the oldest pre-Roman fortresses (Castros) in Galicia, dating back to the Iron Age. Its structure lays around a small natural oval-shaped enclosure measuring about 98 x 65 meters, surrounded by two walls that encircle a village and a third outer wall located in the most vulnerable defensive access. At the highest level are the remains of some houses, circular and quadrangular in shape.

This fortification was the perfect protection against external attacks. On the one hand, on its north and west sides, it has embankments making its ascent to the acropolis tremendously challenging. On the other hand, on its east and south sides is flanked by natural rocks acting as a defensive wall.

At the mountain summit, near the geodesic vertex, you can see a large rock with several kettles and channels, which, some believed, may have had a sacred and ritualistic past.

All the access doors of these constructions face a central space, which leads us to think of possible well-studied plans of an urban settlement. The archaeologists highlight the absence of "lareiras" – an ancient Galician kitchen stove or oven – and daily life cooking utensils, which would have led them to believe in a craft area within the Castro.

Further, they found another more modern construction that took advantage of the foundations of two Galician cabins. One corresponds to a guardhouse from the end of the 18th century, used to monitor ships' navigation to protect the area against the British naval threats. Among the elements found, the most crucial discovery has been a set of five glass beads, which archaeologists believe were part of a necklace or bracelet.

Below and westbound the Castro rises a rock known as Pedra de A Rá (Stone of the Frog). There, they built a viewpoint with the best panoramic views of the Mouth of the Arousa Estuary, Sálvora Island, a large section of the Dune System of the Corrubedo Natural Park, and the Lagoons of Carregal and Vixán. One can also appreciate from there, the town and the cape that bear its name.

To learn more

The Castro de A Cidá (The pre-Roman fortress of the city) is between the parishes of San Xián de Artes and San Paio de Carreira, in the municipality of Ribeira, in the province of A Coruña. At the top of the mountain of A Cidá lay the remains of the Castro. The name "Cidá" comes from the Galician word "Cidade," which in English translates as "City."

It is an Iron Age settlement surrounded by three wall lines, in which, at the highest level, both quadrangular and circular dwellings combined, with an area destined for industrial use. The complex covers approximately 20,000 square meters, and currently, a small section of the ground has been excavated and conditioned for free visits.

The shape of the land benefited the defensive structure of this Castro. Located right at the summit, it had an unsurpassable defensive enclave, taking advantage of the steep slope and the embankment that surrounded it on one side and the 100x60 centimeters rock closure on the other, making its access extremely challenging.

As it was very close to the coast, it is reasonable to think that this "city" had commercial relations with other civilizations coming from the peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea.

In 2014, between April and May, some archeologists conducted excavations at the summit, resulting in the discovery of approximately fifteen dwellings from the Castro era, scattered over an area of 450 meters. The archaeologists thought that these vestiges indicated that about a hundred people might have lived in this settlement. They also collected 600 pieces for further analysis, which verified the existence of ceramics, metallurgy, and the textile industry. In 2015, the work and excavation continued to consolidate and preserve these archaeological structures.

To know it better

The pre-Roman fortress of the city (Castro de A Cidá) is in the municipality of Ribeira in the province of Coruña, more specifically, between the parishes of San Xián de Artes and San Paio de Carreira.

To talk about Castros, one has to travel back to the Bronze Age, to the 7th century BC, and imagine what life was like thousands of years ago. These fortifications were the villages where the Celts lived. Their shape could vary from oval to circular, and they used to be in elevated areas.

This military settlement, located on Mount Cidá or Cibdá, was inhabited from the sixth century BC to the first century AD. All its constructions deteriorated over the years until their discovery in 1924, which led to the beginning of archaeological works and excavations by 1932. In 2014, another series of diggings near the summit revealed approximately fifteen houses from the Castro era and a more modern structure.

On the same mountain, and close to the Castro, we can find the viewpoint of Pedra da Rá (Stone of the Frog) since the 1980s. Its name comes from the frog-shaped design, showed on the rock at its viewpoint, from where one can enjoy the views of the Atlantic Ocean and a large part of the Natural Park, which integrates a broad area of Corrubedo.

The Natural Park occupies nearly 1,000 hectares, formed by the dunes, Corrubedo beach, the freshwater lagoon of Vixán, and the seawater lagoon of Carregal, in which anyone can observe species such as birds and otters.