Arévalo (Avila)

Municipality of Arévalo
	Arévalo - Plaza de la Villa
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Ávila
Coordinates	41 ° 4 ′ N , 4 ° 43 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 4 ′ N , 4 ° 43 ′ W
Height :	820 msnm
Area :	46.07 km²
Residents :	7,986 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	173.34 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	05200
Municipality number ( INE ):	05016
administration
Website :	Arévalo

Arévalo is a Spanish town and municipality (municipio) with 7,986 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the province of Ávila in the autonomous region of Castile-León in central Spain . The historic city center is recognized as a cultural asset ( Bien de Interés Cultural ) in the Conjunto histórico-artístico category .

Location and climate

The place Arévalo is located at the confluence of the Río Arevalillo in the Río Adaja in the Castilian Meseta at an altitude of about 820 m and about halfway between Valladolid and Ávila . The climate is temperate to warm; the rather sparse rain (approx. 385 mm / year) falls spread over the year with the exception of the dry summer months.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	3.114	3,586	5,007	7,446	8,087

The mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting loss of jobs in the countryside have led to significant urban growth since the middle of the 19th century.

economy

Arévalo is traditionally oriented towards agriculture, but small traders, craftsmen and service providers have also settled in the village. Today tourism plays a not insignificant economic role in the form of renting out holiday apartments (casas rurales) .

history

Arévalo - Church of San Martín

Although Arévalo was in the settlement area of the Celtic tribe of the Vettones , so far no Celtic, Roman or Visigoth finds have been made in the city area . The Moors, who have been in the region since the 8th century, have also left no traces; they were in the context of the reconquest ( reconquista ) of the former Christian areas around 1082 by Alfonso VI. pushed south by León . Subsequently, a resettlement policy ( repoblación ) was carried out by Christians from the north but also by Mozarabs from the south of the Iberian Peninsula . In the 12th century, Arévalo was a border town between the kingdoms of León and Castile and grew rapidly; the 13th century saw brisk construction activity in the city. King Henry IV of Castile (ruled 1454–1474) convened a meeting of the estates ( Cortes ) in Arévalo; the future Queen Isabella I spent many years of her childhood here. In 1469 a duchy (ducado) was created, which only existed for 11 years. In 1494, Setúbal (Portugal) and Arévalo (Castile) ratified the documents of the Treaty of Tordesillas , in which the spheres of influence of the two states were delimited from one another.

In 1944 the Arévalo railway accident occurred .

Attractions

The Arévalo castle (castillo) located at the northern tip of the city probably already existed in the Middle Ages. In the 15th century it was by the local landlord family Zuñiga rebuilt. A little later it came into the possession of the constable Alvaro de Luna and was converted into a first class prison around 1500 on behalf of Isabella I of Castile ; illustrious prisoners lived here at times, including Prince Philipp Wilhelm of Orange . In the 19th century the town of Arévalo took over the already badly dilapidated castle, which was thoroughly restored in the 20th century.

The optically three- story choir area of the Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor , which was created in the first half of the 13th century, is an important work of Mudejar architecture. It was later topped up with rubble stones and, together with the nave and the lower part of the bell tower (campanario), forms an architectural unit. In the apse calotte there is a 14th century fresco with Christ as Pantocrator accompanied by the four evangelist symbols . The dilapidated vault of the nave was replaced by a wooden structure in the 1960s.

The Historical Museum of Arévalo is located in the Casa de los Sexmos , a municipal warehouse or tithe barn for grain, etc., which is right next to the church .

The silhouette of the Iglesia de San Martín is characterized by its twin towers, one of which shows the typical Mudejar ornamentation in the lower part, while the upper part and the other tower are left rather unadorned. The large south porch ( portico ) , which appears at several churches in the provinces of Segovia , Ávila , Burgos and Soria , is noteworthy, but its purpose is not clear. The interior of the church was renovated in the 17th and 18th centuries. Century baroque. The building now serves as an exhibition space.

Surroundings

The Ermita de la Lugareja , about one and a half kilometers southwest of the town center, is an extraordinary, but unfinished building in the Mudejar style of the 13th century.

Castillo
View of Arévalo from the castle
City center
Iglesia Santa María la Mayor
Church of San Martín
Ermita de Lugareja

Personalities

Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504) spent several years of her childhood in Arévalo, which she later called "la mi villa" .
Isabella of Portugal (between 1428 and 1431–1496) lived as a widow for decades until her death (1496) in her native city (?) Arévalo.
Ignatius von Loyola (1491–1556) spent 11 years of his youth as a page in Arévalo.