Morella

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Morella (disambiguation) .

Morella municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Valencia
Province :	Castellón
Comarca :	els ports
Coordinates	40 ° 37 ′  N , 0 ° 6 ′  E Coordinates: 40 ° 37 ′  N , 0 ° 6 ′  E
Height :	984  msnm
Area :	413.5 km²
Residents :	2,430 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	5.88 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	12300
Municipality number  ( INE ):	12080
administration
Website :	www.morella.net
Location of the municipality

Morella

Morella 1845

Morella is a municipality in the north of the province of Castellón in the Valencian Community in Spain . It is the capital of the Comarca Els Ports .

geography

Morella is located on the border of the Valencia region with Aragon ( Teruel province ) and Catalonia ( Tarragona province ). The city impresses the visitor with the compact system within a preserved city wall, which is towered over by the local castle. In their area are the mountain passes Torre Miró (1259 m) and Querol (1020 m). This ensemble can be viewed from the national road N-232 , which connects Morella with Saragossa and Logroño in the west and the seaside resorts on the Mediterranean in the east.

Neighboring places are Sorita , Palanques , Mirambel , Forcall , Villores , Cinctorres , Castellfort , Ares del Maestrat , Catí , Xert , Vallibona , Castell de Cabres and Herbés , Xiva de Morella, all of which are also in the province of Castellón.

Buildings

Aqueduct

Puerta de los Apósteles of Santa María la Mayor

• The Acueducto de Morella was built in the 14th century in the Gothic style.
• The Santa María la Mayor Church was built in the 13th and 14th centuries in the Valencian Gothic style. However, it was only completed in 1594, which is why it also contains elements of the Renaissance , especially in the Puerta de los Apósteles . Inside are three naves with three apses . A spiral staircase adorned with bas-reliefs leads to the choir , supported by four pillars , whose barrier (rood screen) depicts the Last Judgment in many relief figures . The high altar is designed in the Churrigueresque style. Here read in the summer of 1415 the anti-pope in the presence of I. Ferdinand (Aragon) the Holy Mass in which the Holy Vincent Ferrer preached.

Sexenni Festival

The Dances of Gitanetes , Sexenni 2012

The Morella Sexenni Festival dates back to 1672 when the city suffered from the plague that ravaged the place. According to the chronicles of that time, the desperation of the people of Morella was so great that they entrusted themselves to their patron saint, the Virgin of Vallivana. The authorities then decided to bring the image of Mary from their chapel to the city. And then a miracle happened: the sick got well again. In gratitude, they undertook to hold a great festival every six years in honor of the Virgin of Vallivana. Since then, numerous pilgrims have walked to the pilgrimage church 24 km from Morella to carry the image of Mary into the city. The arrival of the pilgrims is celebrated by decorating the main streets of the city with hand-made curled paper carpets and by organizing ceremonial acts for nine days.

Legend

When Saint Vincent Ferrer visited Morella in 1414, the woman with whom he was staying wanted to serve him a meal appropriate to his rank. However, since she was too poor to buy meat, she simply slaughtered her own son and presented him to her high guest. When Vincent Ferrer saw through the situation, he put the boy back together and brought him to life. However, from now on he was missing a little finger: His mother had tasted whether the dish was seasoned enough ... A ceramic plaque on Casa Rovira in Calle de la Virgen today reminds of this miraculous incident.

Web links

Commons : Morella  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Federación Valenciana de Municipios y Provincias - Guía Turística (Tourist information; basis of the Spanish-language article on which this present is based)
• Morella.net - another tourism portal (Spanish)
• Morella on the Valencia tourism website

literature

• Franz N. Mehling: Knaur's cultural guide: Spain . Droemer Knaur , Munich / Zurich 1981, pp. 441/42, ISBN 3-426-26037-9 .

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. ↑ Nikolas Jaspert (Heidelberg 2014): The Aragonese Dilemma
3. ↑ Laura Ackerman Smoller, The Saint and the Chopped-up Baby. The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Cornell University Press, 2014), Figure 16. ISBN 978-0-8014-5217-8