Medina-Sidonia

Medina-Sidonia municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Andalusia
Province :	Cadiz
Comarca :	La Janda
Coordinates	36 ° 27 ′  N , 5 ° 55 ′  W Coordinates: 36 ° 27 ′  N , 5 ° 55 ′  W
Height :	337  msnm
Area :	487.41 km²
Residents :	11,708 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	24.02 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	11170
Municipality number  ( INE ):	11023
administration
Mayor :	Manuel Fernando Macías ( Izquierda Unida )
Website :	www.medinasidonia.es
Location of the municipality

Medina-Sidonia ( Arabic , city ​​of Sidon ) is a city in the autonomous region of Andalusia in southern Spain . The fortified city was founded by Phoenicians who came from Sidon . Subsequently, the place was an important Roman colony ( Asido ) and a provincial capital in Visigoth times. In the 8th century the city came under Moorish rule until it became the seat of a Christian duchy in 1440 as part of the Reconquista . Medina Sidonia is located on a hill 337 meters high and is 45 kilometers from the capital of the province of Cádiz .

Doña Blanca

In the 14th century, Duke Pierre I de Bourbon married his daughter Blanca for political reasons to the Spanish King Peter “the Cruel” of Castile and Leon . This daughter, Doña Blanca de Borbón , was very unlucky, because Pedro I loved her not for herself, but for her dowry, which the King of France kept from Pedro I. For this reason, and in order to be able to continue living with his beloved, the Spaniard imprisoned his young wife Doña Blanca de Borbón, first in Valladolid , then in Sigüenza , then in Toledo , then in Jerez and finally in Medina Sidonia, where she died at the age of 22 . Shortly after the young woman's death, the rumors flared up because it was said that she had been poisoned or killed with an arrow. However, today's science assumes that it died of an illness, probably consumption .

Attractions

Marketplace

The partly Moorish old town is particularly worth seeing, especially:

• The Roman sewer system (Cloacas romanas) from the 1st century
• The Ermita de los Santos Martires from the Visigothic period (7th century)
• Remains of the Alkazar and the castle (12th – 15th centuries); three archways are completely preserved
• The church of Santa María la Mayor la Coronada with architectural styles from Gothic , Renaissance and Baroque (14th - 17th centuries)
• The monastery of San José del Cuervo, built in baroque style (18th century)
• The 19th century Caminillo Gardens

sons and daughters of the town

• Manuel Montes de Oca (1804–1841), military and politician

See also

• Duke of Medina-Sidonia

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. ↑ Bernd Kessens in "The bullfighter's fear of the tip of the horn"

Web links

Commons : Medina-Sidonia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Medina Sidonia website of the municipality (Spanish)