Sierra de Béjar Salamanca Castilla y León Spain
40.3871165,-5.7642172

Béjar

Béjar is a municipality and Spanish city in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is distinguished as the most important population center in the southeast of Salamanca and is considered the capital or service center of the Sierra de Béjar region. It forms the judicial district of Béjar and the Embalse de Béjar Association.

Its municipal term is made up of the population centers of Béjar, Fuentebuena, Palomares, Valdesangil, El Castañar and La Glorieta, it occupies a total area of 45.74 km² and according to the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2017, it has 13,221 inhabitants .

Béjar was founded towards October–November 1208 and it was presumably granted a fuero afterwards. It was originally placed to the south of the current settlement, but the population relocated to its current location in the first half of the 14th century. Featuring a cattle-based economy, the town sustained a quick early growth. Over the rest of the middle ages, the town passed several times from a royal demesne to seigneurial lordship and vice versa. The town saw its fuero ratified in 1333. Béjar celebrated an eight-day long medieval fair every year. The town enjoyed from availability to plenty of wood resources, hydropower and sheep flocks.

The arrival to power of the Zúñiga family after 1396 favoured the installment of numerous courtiers and servants, who increased the demand for clothing products. Cloth-making boomed in the late-17th century. The Ducal House of Béjar brought Flemish artisans to update the wool manufacturing techniques.

Unlike other textile manufacturing hubs in the Castilian Meseta, the local textile industry got to survive past the Early Modern Period. The late modern history of Béjar is indeed marked by its thriving textile industry, and during the 19th century it came to be referred to as the "Castilian Manchester".

Due to the peripheral location of the town and the rugged relief, railway arrived late to Béjar, in 1894. Following the end of the Civil War, Bécar became a major provider of wool clothes, primarily used for military and civil servants' uniforms.

Béjar maintained a positive demographic growth until 1970, peaking at 17,576 inhabitants. The textile industry entered a crisis in the 1970s, prompting to staffing cutbacks. Passenger train services in the Astorga–Plasencia line closed on 1 January 1985, and rail freight transport a decade later, worsening rural flight patterns in the area and hindering business development. In the wake of the decline of the secondary sector, the municipality has tried to foster other alternatives for the local economy such as tourism.



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Distance between:

Madrid to Béjar 109 Miles / 175 Kms
Barcelona to Béjar 422 Miles / 679 Kms

Postal Code 37700



Population 2019

Total: 12876
Total Men:
Total Women:

Broadband and mobile Internet coverage

fixed ≥ 30Mbps : 100%
fixed ≥ 100Mbps : 100%
3G HSPA : 100%
4G LTE : 100%

museum Nearby

Museo del Ciclismo "La Historica"

tourist attraction Nearby

Cedro de la Francesa
Torre del reloj