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El Barco de Valdeorras () is a municipality located in the north-eastern end of the province of Orense, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Located at the bottom of the Sil Valley, under the Sierra del Eje, it is the head of the same judicial party.

One of the bases of its economy, in addition to the mining and treatment of slate, is the production of wine received by the Denomination of Origin Valdeorras. Remains of the Roman and Preromana culture and several signor pazos are the most outstanding monuments of the municipality.

Other denominations

The parish is also known by the names of Barco de Valdeorras and El Barco.

Toponymy

The Barco is located in the south-eastern part of Galicia, in the region of Valdeorras, occupying part of the alluvial plain of the Sil River and between the mountains that limit its contour. This land configuration is the one that may have given rise to the name O Barco, from a pre-Latin base, probably Celtic, * barc or * barg (concavity).

Another very widespread explanation in popular sense defends that the name O Barco comes from the installation, in medieval times, of a boat to the area of Viloira, in order to communicate the existing populations on both sides of the river. This barber house (porto da barca) - was located along the Roman road, now Calle Real - where the buildings that set up the core of El Barco de Viloira were emerging.

With regard to the second part of the name, Valdeorras, there are also various hypotheses, which relate the toponym to a so-called "gold" valley. However, the most accepted explanation relates Valdeorras to the valley inhabited by the Gigurros, a village that inhabited these lands in the time of the Romans.

Geography
It is integrated in the region of Valdeorras, of which it has capital, and is 114 kilometres from the provincial capital. The municipal term is crossed by the national road N-120 between the PK 452 and 457, as well as by the national road N-536, which allows communication with Ponferrada, and the provincial road OU-622 which is headed to the natural park of the Sierra de la Encina de la Lastra.

The relief of the municipality is formed by the Sil River Valley and the surrounding mountains. The Sil Valley, inscribed in a slate outcrop, is a narrow and deep tectonic pit, within which the river follows in its direction the direction of a network of fractures. The river, which makes its entrance into the municipality strongly attached, quickly opens to a wide and open valley, where it runs over important alluvial deposits. Its flow is fed by the water inputs provided by the Mariñán, Galir and Cigüeño rivers, as well as a dense network of streams. The mountain alignments of its right side derive from the last foothills of the Sierra do Courel, and reach higher altitudes