Carmona (Andalusia)
| Carmona municipality | |||
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| coat of arms | Map of Spain | ||
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| Basic data | |||
| Autonomous Community : | Andalusia | ||
| Province : | Seville | ||
| Coordinates | 37 ° 28 ′ N , 5 ° 38 ′ W | ||
| Height : | 235 msnm | ||
| Area : | 924.12 km² | ||
| Residents : | 28,531 (Jan 1, 2019) | ||
| Population density : | 30.87 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Postal code : | 41410 | ||
| Municipality number ( INE ): | 41024 | ||
| administration | |||
| Mayor : | Antonio Cano Luis (PSOE) | ||
| Website : | www.carmona.org | ||
Carmona is a city in southwestern Spain in the province of Seville ( Andalusia ), 43 kilometers northeast of Seville on the Río Guadalquivir with 28,531 inhabitants (January 1, 2019).
geography
Carmona was built on the Alcores, a ridge in the central plain of Andalusia, from where you can see the Sierra Morena in the north to the summit of San Cristobal in the south. Carmona masters the fertile Vega del Corbones.
economy
In addition to tourism, Carmona lives economically from the wine, olive oil, grain and cattle trade. The annual fair, held in Carmona in April, is a great opportunity to observe the costumes and customs of southern Spain.
Attractions
The citadel of Carmona, now in ruins, was formerly the most important fort of Peter the Cruel and is home to a spacious palace within its walls, today the attractive Parador Hotel "Alcázar del Rey Don Pedro", which is set up in the 14th century Moorish castle is and looks far into the country. The main entrance to the city is the old Moorish city gate on the road to Cordoba , which is based on a Roman construction. Parts of the old monastery of San Teodomir are based on Moorish architecture; the tower of the Church of San Pedro is an imitation of the Giralda of Seville. The former optical message tower Torre del Picacho is now a lookout tower.
history
Thanks to its strategic location, Carmona is one of the oldest places in Andalusia, and has been inhabited continuously since prehistoric times. Carmona was one of the most prosperous trading centers in ancient times. Significant prehistoric finds from the Neolithic period , such as the bell beaker , come from Carmona. Carthage established a fortified colony in the Carthaginian Kar-Hammon , which ruled the lower valley of the Río Guadalquivir and was therefore continuously fortified by them. Carmona, the Roman Carmo , was the strongest city in late Roman Spain in the time of Julius Caesar , when it reached its peak and was allowed to mint coins. The Seville Gate, a bridge, the necropolis and the amphitheater are visible signs of this Roman rule. Furthermore, a Roman road ran through Carmona, it was called El Arrecife in the Middle Ages .
With the conquest of Spain by the Moors in 711, Carmona also came under their rule. They increased the importance of the city by surrounding the city with a city wall and decorating it with fountains and palaces. In 1247 Fernando III conquered . of Castile and put it under his motto Sicut Lucifer lucet in Aurora, sic in Wandalia Carmona (As the morning star shines in the twilight, Carmona shines in Andalusia). Pedro el Cruel made the enlarged Alcázar de la Puerta de Marchena his favorite palace. His sons also lived in the palace. During the reigns of Juan II and Enrique IV , Carmona became one of the scenes of the rivalry between the noble families of Ponce de León and Guzmán. In 1630 Carmona received city rights.
Archaeological site
The Roman necropolis, which should have been reserved for the middle and especially the upper class, contains many burial chambers carved into the rock with niches for urns and occasionally rooms with stone seats ( triclinia ). The use of the necropolis is dated to around the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. At that time, the most common form of burial was cremation. In a cave carved in the rock, the dead were burned on pyre by special grave diggers . Occasionally, these cremation sites also served as a grave in which the urn was placed and then closed with ashlar stones, bricks or a stone slab. The grave was covered with earth and a tombstone gave information about the name and place of death of the deceased.
A family mausoleum is predominant in Carmona , consisting of an underground burial chamber that was accessible via a stairwell. The usually square burial chamber has niches for the urns around at eye level. Below is a bank for offerings. Some burial chambers were closed with a door, remains of which have been found. Others were probably closed by a tombstone.
Two spectacular grave complexes deserve special mention: The elephant grave got its name from a sandstone figure found here in an exposed place. The tomb consists of a chancel that was used to worship the deities Cibeles and Attis , whose worship was of enormous importance in Rome . The god Attis, who died every year and was resurrected, was particularly worshiped in Carmona, which is proven by other finds in the necropolis. This gave Carmona a religious independence, which proves its cultural relationships with the Phoenician-Carthaginian cultures of the Middle East and the Mediterranean. In addition to this deity, there is also a female mother goddess, the ruler of life and death and personification of the divine nature, which was represented by an upright, oval stone. However, the elephant figure has been so fascinating since its discovery that it became a symbol of eternity in this tomb. In addition to the chancel, the grave complex has a kitchen, a cistern and a dining room. Apparently, a memorial meal was regularly held in the grave complex in memory of the deceased.
The second, particularly noteworthy, mausoleum, the Servilia tomb , differs from all other tombs by its dimensions, the size of a football field. It was laid out in the Hellenistic style. Around an inner courtyard carved into the rock, surrounded by columns and covered by a gallery , various luxuriously designed, painted rooms branch off on two floors. At the front of the inner courtyard is the covered burial chamber with a large trapezoidal porch and a tapered dome, in which, apparently, the sculpture of Servilia, who probably represented the richest and most powerful family of Carmona government officials in Augustan times, was located.
Discovery story
In 1881, an extensive Roman necropolis on the outskirts of the city on the road to Seville was discovered and excavated by Juan Fernández López and the English archaeologist George Bonsor . In the same year an amphitheater and a group of other tombs, all from the first four centuries AD, were found near the original necropolis and a small museum was set up by the Carmonian Archaeological Society showing mosaics , inscriptions , portraits and other antiques.
sons and daughters of the town
- Javier Ramírez (* 1978), racing cyclist
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
literature
- M. Sales y Ferré: Estudios arqueologicos y historicos. Madrid 1887.
- Antonio Caballos Rufino: Carmona Romana. 2nd edition, 2 volumes, Ayuntamiento de Carmona / Universidad de Sevilla, Carmona 2012, ISBN 978-84-472-1282-8 .
