Arnedo

Arnedo municipality
	Arnedo - the townscape
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	La Rioja
Comarca :	Comarca de Arnedo
Coordinates	42 ° 14 ′ N , 2 ° 6 ′ W Coordinates: 42 ° 14 ′ N , 2 ° 6 ′ W
Height :	525 msnm
Area :	85.4 km²
Residents :	14,875 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	174.18 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	26580
Municipality number ( INE ):	26018
administration
Website :	Arnedo

Arnedo is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) in the southeast of the autonomous community of La Rioja in Spain with 14,875 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019). The place is also the administrative seat of the comarca of the same name .

location

The place Arnedo is located on the north bank of the Río Cidacos at an altitude of about 665 m . The historically significant city of Calahorra is about 19 km (driving distance) to the northeast; the distance to the provincial capital Logroño is about 62 km in a north-westerly direction. The climate is temperate; Rain (approx. 520 mm / year) falls over the year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	3,489	4,341	6,950	12,855	14,756

As a result of the mechanization of agriculture and the migration of many people to the cities, the number of inhabitants has increased continuously since the middle of the 19th century.

economy

The municipality of Arnedo was and is largely characterized by agriculture. In earlier times, the place served as a handicraft and market center for a few - now mostly abandoned - smaller farmsteads and hamlets in the area. in the 18th century a center of soap production developed here; in the 20th century the city was known for its leather and shoe production. The place is now part of the Rioja Baja wine-growing region .

history

Ruins of the castle

The area was already populated in prehistoric times. An ancient place called Arenetum was at the crossroads of two trade routes. The scanty remains of a church are known from the Visigothic period . The Arab geographer al-Idrisi reports that the place should have stood at the head of 26 "provinces" in the 8th century; On a rock dominating the place (Cerro de San Miguel) a castle (castillo) was built . Already in the first decade of the 10th century the place and its surroundings were recaptured by Sancho I of Navarre ( reconquista ) . In 1264 Arnedo fell to the Kingdom of Castile . The town and its surrounding area were taken around 1367 by the French mercenary leader Bertrand du Guesclin , who sold both to a local nobleman in 1370. Philip IV granted Arnedo full city rights (ciudad) in 1653 .

Attractions

The Cuevas de los Cien Pilares have been visited by humans since ancient times. Later they were used as storage facilities ( bodegas ) for wine, ham, cheese etc. and probably also for breeding pigeons.
The Castillo de Arnedo was built in the 9th century instead of a Roman predecessor. After the Christians recaptured the place, it was expanded, but later abandoned.
The Iglesia de Santo Tomás was built in the 13th century in Gothic styles.
The Iglesia de San Cosme y San Damián was built in the 16th and 17th centuries. Century. The main attraction inside is the late baroque main altar.
The Iglesia de Santa Eulalia , built in the 16th century on the site of a medieval predecessor, stands at the highest point of the place; the tower was built a century later.

Iglesia de Santo Tomás , detail of the main altar
Iglesia de San Cosme y San Damián , main altar
Turruncun

Surroundings

The mountain village of Turruncún, which is about 12 km to the south and now abandoned, still had around 300 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century.