Ciudad Rodrigo

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Ciudad Rodrigo municipality
Aerial view of Ciudad Rodrigo
Aerial view of Ciudad Rodrigo
coat of arms Map of Spain
Ciudad Rodrigo coat of arms
Ciudad Rodrigo (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Castile and Leon
Province : Salamanca
Coordinates 40 ° 36 ′  N , 6 ° 32 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 36 ′  N , 6 ° 32 ′  W
Height : 653  msnm
Area : 240.11 km²
Residents : 12,344 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density : 51.41 inhabitants / km²
Postal code : E-37500
Municipality number  ( INE ): 37107
administration
Mayor : Javier Iglesias ( PP )
Website : www.aytociudadrodrigo.es

Ciudad Rodrigo is a Spanish municipality in the province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León .

Location and demographics

View over the Águeda

Ciudad Rodrigo is located on the Águeda River in western Spain, 86 km west of the provincial capital Salamanca and 25 km east of the Portuguese border. The urban area covers an area of ​​240.11 km² and has a population density of 51 inhabitants per square kilometer. According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística , the city has 12,344 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) . Their popular name is mirobrigense after the city's original name, Miróbriga . Since the city was later also called Civitas Roderici , some of them are also called civitatense or rodericense .

history

Archaeological finds indicate a settlement of the area since the Bronze Age . Stone tools from the early Paleolithic were also found in the area.

The first official city foundation can be dated to the 6th century BC. To be dated. The Vettones , a Celtiberian tribe, founded the city under the name Miróbriga . A testimony to this pre-Roman period is a boar made of granite, which can still be seen in the city today and which is probably of Vettonic origin. After the conquest by the Romans , the city in honor of the emperor was Augustus in Augustóbriga renamed. The three pillars at the entrance to the city, which were part of a temple and which have adorned the city's coat of arms since the Middle Ages, also date from this period. Remains that testify to the time of the Suebi and the Visigoths are few and far between. Only the history after the re-establishment of the city by the namesake Count Rodrigo González Girón in the 12th century can be better traced. The oldest document containing the city's name was issued by Salamanca Cathedral in 1136. There the city was called Civitatem de Rodric .

Sieges

After a siege that began on April 26, 1810, Marshal Michel Neys VI conquered . Corps - part of André Masséna's 65,000-strong army - entered the city on July 9th. The Spanish field marshal Don Andreas de Herrasti had to give up the city after the French artillery was able to punch a hole in the protective walls.

Two years later, more precisely on January 20, 1812, the Anglo-Portuguese troops, led by Arthur Wellesley , succeeded in conquering the city. The siege had lasted thirteen days. Thomas Picton's and Robert Craufurd's divisions were also involved in the storming of the city . The latter died along with 194 other wounded on the British-Portuguese side. The French suffered greater losses, with 529 dead and injured. The rest of the French troops were taken prisoner. Wellesley was awarded the Spanish title Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo (Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo) for the liberation . His descendants carried on the title. It is currently Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington (since 2010).

Attractions

In 1944 the old town of Ciudad Rodrigo was declared a Conjunto histórico-artístico .

City walls

In the course of the repopulation of the city, Ferdinand II had the city wall that still exists today built in 1161. It's two kilometers long and has had seven passes throughout history. Except for the Puerta del Rey , all the other gates are open today:

  • Puerta del Conde (Eng. Gate of the Count): It is located in the immediate vicinity of the palace in which Count Rodrigo González Girón resided. The gate was restored in 1966.
  • Puerta de Santiago : It is located in the south of the city and was built in the 12th or 13th century. The gate is still in its original condition.
  • Puerta de la Colada : It was built under Ferdinand II, contains loopholes and leads to the hill on which the castle Heinrich II. Stands.
  • Puerta del Sol : The passage was built in the time of Henry II of Castile and leads east out of the city. It was rebuilt in 1970.
  • Puerta de San Vicente : This gate has the shape of a brick vault and faces west.
  • Puerta de Amayuelas : Due to its comparatively late construction date (1563), it used to be called Puerta Nueva (New Gate).

cathedral

Cloister of the cathedral

It was also Ferdinand II who made Ciudad Rodrigo the suffragan diocese of Santiago de Compostela . This was stated in a bull by Pope Alexander III in 1175 . officially confirmed. In the course of this, the construction of the cathedral began. Since the first phase of construction lasted until the 14th century, both Romanesque and Gothic elements are predominant. The church tower in the classicism style was not completed until 1770. The interior of the sacred building has three naves and the vault of the main chapel was designed by the Spanish Renaissance artist Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón .

Alcazar

Henry II of Castile had the fortress built in the 14th century, which today has been converted into a Parador Nacional . In 1372 he commissioned the architect Lope Arias Genízaro to rebuild the old castle, the ruins of which date back to Roman times. The three-story Torre de Homenaje rises behind a protective wall with defensive towers . A second wall was completed in the 15th century.

Although the city experienced its heyday in the 15th and 16th centuries, it was the scene of several armed conflicts due to its strategically good location between the Portuguese border and Salamanca. During the Comuneros uprising , the city was divided into supporters of Charles I of Spain and the Comuneros . Large parts of the city were also destroyed during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) and the Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula (1807–1814).

Other sights

  • Casa de la Cadena , manor house from the 16th century
  • Palacio de los Águila
  • Palacio de la Marquesa de Cartago
  • Casa de los Vázquez

  • "El Verraco" (boar made of granite)

  • Three pillars, symbols of the city

  • Puerta de Amayuelas

  • Santa María Cathedral

  • Torre de Homenaje

  • town hall

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Ciudad Rodrigo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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).
  2. ↑ 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).