Pontevedra

Historia

Pontevedra is a Spanish city in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the Comarca (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rias Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality which is, in fact, often considered as an extension of the actual city. Pontevedra is the provincial district court seat.Pontevedra has transformed into one of the most accessible cities and has been awarded for its urban quality international prizes like the European prize, "Intermodes" in Brussels in 2013, the United Nations Habitat prize in Dubai in 2014 and the "Excellence Prize" of the Center for Active Design in New York City in 2015.ToponymyThe name of the city is likely a Latin composite of pons, pontis and veter, vetera, veterum . In Galicia, Latin pons, a masculine word, became feminine, hence Vulgar Latin Ponte Vetera, which became by the 13th century the modern Galician language toponymy Pontevedra, "the old bridge", in reference to an old Roman bridge across the Lérez River which had been located near the 12th century that remains in place today.