Palencia

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

Palencia municipality
Palencia - Sightseeing
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Palencia
Comarca :	Tierra de Campos
Coordinates	42 ° 1 ′  N , 4 ° 32 ′  W Coordinates: 42 ° 1 ′  N , 4 ° 32 ′  W
Height :	749  msnm
Area :	94.95 km²
Residents :	78,412 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	825.82 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	34001 to 34006
Municipality number  ( INE ):	34120
administration
Website :	Palencia

Palencia is a northern Spanish city ​​and a municipality ( municipio ) with 78,412 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the province of Palencia in the autonomous region of Castile and León .

Location and climate

The city is located in the northwest of the agricultural plateau Tierra de Campos on the banks of the Río Carrión in the triangle of the autovías A-62 , A-65 and A-67 about 240 km (driving distance) northwest of Madrid and just under 52 km northeast of Valladolid at a height of approx. 750  m . The climate in winter is temperate, whereas in summer it is dry and warm; Rain (approx. 440 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	12,811	15,940	41,769	80,613	78,892

By the mechanization of agriculture triggered and abandonment of small farms in the second half of the 20th century rural exodus resulted in the cities to a marked increase of the population.

economy

The area around Palencia is largely agricultural, with cattle breeding traditionally playing a rather subordinate role; the place itself offered the necessary regional services in the fields of handcraft and trade. Due to the good transport connections, small and medium-sized industrial companies have settled here since the last decades of the 20th century. Palencia is envisaged as a major rail hub.

history

Palencia was called Pallantia in antiquity and was the capital of the Celtiberian Vaccaeans . Roman troops under Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Porcina besieged the city in 136 BC. In vain. But still in the 2nd century BC The city had to surrender to the Romans due to starvation and was later incorporated into the province of Hispania Tarraconensis . Palencia probably already became the seat of a bishop in the 3rd century , but the city first flourished under the Visigoths in the 6th and 7th centuries - parts of the crypt of San Antolín below the cathedral as well as the approx km southeast of the church of San Juan de Baños . In the 8th century the Arab-Moorish armies penetrated far into the north of the Iberian Peninsula and also conquered the area around Palencia. In the 11th century the city was recaptured by the Christians (reconquista) , but its greatest patron at the beginning of the 13th century was the Castilian King Alfonso VIII ; During his lifetime, but mainly after his death (1214), the existing cathedral school was converted into one of the first universities in Europe at the instigation of the then Bishop Tello Téllez de Meneses , which was founded by Pope Honorius III. was approved in 1221. From the 13th to the 16th centuries Palencia was one of the most important cities in Spain, but with the decline of the state came that of the cities. Most of the medieval city wall was torn down in the 19th century.

Attractions

• The vault of the Roman bridge that crosses the Carrión was restored in the Middle Ages. The old section of the city is on the left bank, the somewhat more modern suburb has expanded on the right bank.
• The old city wall, up to 10 m high, can be followed along a sidewalk that was laid out in 1778.
• The Gothic cathedral (built between 1321 and 1504) is dedicated to the city's patron saint, Antoninus of Pamiers ( San Antolín ). The under their choir lying crypt of San Antolín dates from Visigoth time .
• Palencia is also known for its 13th century churches, e. B. San Miguel and the Benedictine Monastery of San Zoilo .
• The Museo de Palencia contains a large number of important works of art, around 12 paintings by Juan de Flandes , court painter to Queen Isabella I of Castile . There are also capitals of the Romanesque church of San Martín in Frómista, which were removed during restoration at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries .
• The archaeological museum in the Casa del Cordón presents u. a. celtic pottery.
• The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo deals with contemporary art.

outside

• In the church of San Juan de Baños , dedicated to John the Baptist , there is a dedicatory inscription by the Visigoth king Rekkeswinth from the year 661.

Personalities

Marta Domínguez statue in Palencia

• Blanka of Castile (1188–1252), Queen of France
• Henry I (Castile) (1204–1217), King of Castile
• Gabriel de Castilla (1577–1620), navigator
• Luis Romero Fernández (* 1954), Catholic clergyman, auxiliary bishop in Rockville Center
• Elena Anaya (* 1975), actress
• Marta Domínguez (* 1975), long distance and obstacle runner

Web links

Commons : Palencia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Romanesque in Palencia and surroundings - photos + information (arteguias, spanish)
• historical buildings in Palencia and surroundings - photos + information (Spanish)

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. ↑ Palencia - climate tables
3. ^ Palencia - population development
4. ↑ Palencia - History
5. ↑ Dietrich Höllhuber and Werner Schäfke: The Spanish Way of St. James. History and art on the way to Santiago de Compostela . DuMont, [Cologne] 1999. ISBN 3-7701-4862-2 , p. 144.