Manresa

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Manresa municipality
The collegiate church of Manresa
The collegiate church of Manresa
coat of arms Map of Spain
Manresa coat of arms
Manresa (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Catalonia
Province : Barcelona
Comarca : Bages
Coordinates 41 ° 44 ′  N , 1 ° 50 ′  E Coordinates: 41 ° 44 ′  N , 1 ° 50 ′  E
Height : 238  msnm
Area : 41.66 km²
Residents : 77,714 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density : 1,865.43 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number  ( INE ): 08113
administration
Official language : Castilian , Catalan
Website : Manresa

Manresa , with its 77,714 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019), is the capital of the Comarca Bages in the Spanish province of Barcelona in Catalonia .

location

The urban area is located in the southern tip of the Pla de Bages plain , embedded between the Cardener and Llobregat rivers ; Both rivers partially form a natural border with neighboring communities. The highest point in the municipality is the 543 meter high Collbaix in the west . The cities of Barcelona and Tarragona are about 70 kilometers (driving distance) southeast and 110 kilometers southwest.

Population development

year 1960 1970 1981 1990 2000 2014
Residents 52,216 57,846 67.014 65,818 63,742 75.297

In the 19th century the number of inhabitants rose from around 8,000 to around 23,000. The communities in the greater Manresa area have also seen strong population growth in recent decades (e.g. Navàs or Castellnou de Bages ).

economy

Manresa is an important center of the textile , machine and chemical industries . In the last few decades the economy has been switched to trade and service industries . The city is one of several locations of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia .

history

Smaller Neolithic finds have been made in the urban area . There is evidence of a settlement from Iberian times, but the Iberian Peninsula became the scene of the clashes between Rome and the Phoenicians , into which the Iberians and Celts were also drawn. The Roman consul Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder conquered large parts of the peninsula between 195 and 191 BC. BC The Romans also laid the foundation stone for the city of Minorisa . During the Moorish occupation, the city and its surroundings became depopulated. Towards the end of the 8th century the Christians recaptured the area, but there were internal power disputes and the destruction of the city by Muslim troops in the years 841/842. Towards the end of the 9th century, the city was firmly in Christian hands and formed the center of a county that ruled over a large area.

Manresa in 1881

The 14th century was a golden time for Catalonia - the urban population of Manresa at that time is estimated at around 3,000 people; the collegiate church (sometimes also called "cathedral") and a large number of smaller churches were built. Ignatius von Loyola stayed in the city from March 1522 to February 1523 . In the years between 1540 and 1659 the "revolt of the reapers" ( Guerra dels Segadors ) covered large parts of Catalonia and at the beginning of the 18th century, Manresa suffered from the military clashes between Spaniards, French and Austrians in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) Suffer. Despite the Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula (1807-1814), the political and economic importance of the city and its surrounding area grew in the 19th century - a development that continued in the 20th century.

Attractions

Pont Vell and Cova de Sant Ignasi

Manresa is a city with numerous medieval, baroque and modernist buildings, including churches and convents, but also town palaces, tenement houses and factories from the 19th century:

  • The basilica of Santa Maria de la Seu , called "Seu de Manresa" was built from the 14th to the 18th century; it combines elements of Gothic , Renaissance and Classicism . Inside there is the Mare de Déu de l'Alba statue of the Virgin Mary and important Gothic altarpieces by Catalan artists.
  • A bridge ( Pont Vell ) over the Cardener river was built in Roman times; After being destroyed several times in the 12th century, it was rebuilt in the Gothic style and reconstructed between 1960 and 1962.
  • The Cova de Sant Ignasi is a building complex consisting of a baroque church (built from 1759 to 1763) and a large neoclassical extension from the 1890s, which is grouped around the 'Holy Cave' ( Santa Cova ) in which Ignatius of Loyola (1491 –1556), the founder of the Jesuit order , lived for a few months. The Cova de Sant Ignasi now serves, among other things, as a retreat house .
  • Other important buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries are the Palace of Justice and the City Hall.

Personalities

Baroque Ignatius altar in the Cova de Sant Ignasi

Ignatius of Loyola

Manresa has a special meaning for the Jesuit order: The later founder of the order, Ignatius von Loyola , spent a few months in solitude here, during which he exposed himself to extreme poverty and constantly deepened in prayer. In a cave on the Cardener he had an enlightenment that shaped him in a spiritual sense for his whole life. At the end of his time in Manresa, Ignatius became a pilgrim who brought it to Jerusalem and through many other stations to Rome .

Other

Web links

Commons : Manresa  - 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).