Plain of Vic Plana de Vic | |
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Country | Catalonia, Spain |
Elevation | 490 m (1,610 ft) |
The Plain of Vic (Catalan Plana de Vic) is a 30 km long depression located at the eastern end of the Catalan Central Depression in the Osona comarca. It is named after the town of Vic, an important and ancient urban center in this natural region that lies in the midst of the plain. Other significant towns in the plain are Manlleu and Tona.
This natural depression carved by river Ter and its tributaries is longer than it is wide and stretches in a N / S direction. It is completely surrounded by mountains: The Sub-Pyrenees, with Bellmunt mountain towering in the north, the Lluçanès (Pre-Pyrenees) and Moianès high plateau in the West, the Montseny in the southeast and the Guilleries, located at the apex of the Catalan Transversal Range and the Pre-Coastal Range, in the east.
The Plain of Vic was the bed of an ancient sea. It is mainly formed by sedimentary rocks, like carbonatic lutite, from the eocene. The most remarkable characteristic of the landscape in the plain are low, isolated hills known as turons testimoni, "testimonial hills". [1] Fossils are quite abundant in areas of the Plain of Vic.
The plain is subject to a phenomenon of thermal inversion, especially marked in calm weather days during the fall and the winter, by which the surrounding mountain ranges are often warmer than the plain. This inversion in temperature also reflects in the vegetation. [2] The original vegetation of the plain was oak (Quercus pubescens) forest, but little is left owing to continuous human intervention since ancient times. Some very ancient oaks have been preserved as a tourist attraction.
Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló was a Catalan writer, regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a cultural revival movement of the late Romantic era. The bishop Josep Torras i Bages, one of the main figures of Catalan nationalism, called him the "Prince of Catalan poets". He was also known as mossèn (Father) Cinto Verdaguer, because of his career as a priest, and informally also simply "mossèn Cinto".
Vic is the capital of the comarca of Osona, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Vic is located 69 km (43 mi) from Barcelona and 60 km (37 mi) from Girona.
Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is 7,726 km2 (2,983 sq mi). 5,743,402 people live in the province, of whom about 29% (1,664,182) live within the administrative limits of the city of Barcelona, which itself is contained in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
Berguedà is an inland comarca in the central region of Catalonia, Spain. It lies partly in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, and partly in the Catalan Central Depression. The capital is the city of Berga.
Garrotxa is a comarca (county) in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. Its population in 2016 was 55,999, more than half of them in the capital city of Olot. It is roughly equivalent to the historical County of Besalú.
Osona is a comarca situated in the central region of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Vic. Its population in 2001 was 129,543. Osona covers roughly the same area as the historic Catalan county of Osona. The name Osona comes from Ausetans, a group of Iberian people who had their capital in Ausa ; the Romans called the area Ausone or Ausona. While most of the comarca is within the province of Barcelona, the municipalities of Espinelves, Vidrà and Viladrau form part of the province of Girona.
Olost is a municipality in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It has less than 1,200 people, situated on a plain 669 meters above sea level at 20 km from Vic in the center of the ancient shire or comarca of Lluçanès, before in the comarca of Osona. In the center of the village stands the church of Santa Maria d'Olost of monumental size, with a large façade and two bell towers. Its construction started in the 10th century and ended in the 18th century. Near Olost are the two small settlements of Santa Creu de Jutglars and the Vila with Sant Gil de la Vila and the unusual Castell d'Olost, built in 1155 with added elements of the 14th and 15th centuries, that lies in a depression next to a stream in the district of Orista. Even though it was a fortified farm, it has the structure of a castle; it is nearly hidden from view for protection in the Middle Ages.
Manlleu is municipality in the comarca of Osona, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, northern Spain.
Montseny is a mountain range west of the coastal hills north of Barcelona. It is part of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range.
Eix Transversal, labelled C-25, is a primary highway in Catalonia, Spain. It crosses the Catalan Transversal Range mountainous region, connecting the northern end of the Catalan Coastal Depression with the Catalan Central Depression.
Penedès is a natural and historical region of Catalonia. It is located in the south of the Principality of Catalonia between the pre-coastal mountain range and the Mediterranean Sea. The comarcal division of the Generalitat de Catalunya in 1936 and 1987, divided Penedès into three administrative comarques: Alt Penedès, Baix Penedès and Garraf, and their capitals are Vilafranca del Penedès, el Vendrell and Vilanova i la Geltrú.
Lluçanès is a comarca of Catalonia, in the central region, transitioning between the Plain of Vic and Berguedà, in the pre-Pyrenees. It was established as an official comarca in May 2023. The capital is the town of Prats de Lluçanès.
Muntanyola is a municipality in the comarca of Osona, Catalonia, northern Spain.
The Catalan Pre-Coastal Range is a system of mountain ranges running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea coast in Catalonia. It is part of the Catalan Mediterranean System. Its main axis runs between the Catalan Transversal Range and the Serra de l'Espina, which connects with the Ports de Tortosa-Beseit, part of the Iberian System. The highest point is 1.706,7 m at the Montseny Massif.
The Catalan Transversal Range is a system of minor mountain ranges at the eastern end of the Pre-Pyrenees, between the Osona and Garrotxa comarques. The existence of the Catalan Transversal Range has made communications in the northern areas of Catalonia difficult in the past, especially between Northeastern Catalonia and Western Catalonia, a problem that has been partly solved with the development of the Eix Transversal.
The Catalan Mediterranean System, also known as Mediterranean System, Transversal Ibero-Pyrenaean System, and Catalanid System, is a wide coastal geographical region in Catalonia. It is made up of a double system of coastal mountain chains: The Catalan Coastal Range and the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range, as well as the Catalan Coastal Depression and other coastal and pre-coastal plains located among those mountain ranges.
The Sub-Pyrenees are a mountainous region in Catalonia, Spain, forming a section of the southern foothills of the Pyrenees. They are located at the eastern end of the Pre-Pyrenees, west of the Catalan Transversal Range, between the lower Ripollès and an area of the high Garrotxa.
The Catalan Central Depression is a natural depression between the Pre-Pyrenees and the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range in Spain. It widens towards the west, linking with the Ebro Depression, Catalan: Depressió de l'Ebre, of which it could be considered an eastern extension. The Catalan Central Depression is about 180 km long with an average width of 50 km.
The topographical relief of Spain is characterized by being quite high, with an average altitude of 660 meters above sea level, quite mountainous compared to other European countries and only surpassed by Switzerland, Austria, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the microstates of Andorra and Liechtenstein. In peninsular Spain, the terrain is articulated around a large Meseta Central that occupies most of the center of the Iberian Peninsula. Outside the plateau, there is the depression of the Guadalquivir river, located in the southwest of the peninsula, and the Ebro river depression, located in the northeast.
Alt Ter is a natural region and proposed vegueria by the Ter river in Catalonia.