Terrassa

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Terrassa municipality
coat of arms Map of Spain
Terrassa coat of arms
Terrassa (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Catalonia
Province : Barcelona
Comarca : Vallès Occidental
Coordinates 41 ° 34 ′  N , 2 ° 0 ′  E Coordinates: 41 ° 34 ′  N , 2 ° 0 ′  E
Height : 286  msnm
Area : 70.29 km²
Residents : 220,556 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density : 3,137.8 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number  ( INE ): 08279
administration
Official language : Castilian , Catalan
Mayor : Alfredo Vega López ( PSC )
Website : www.terrassa.cat
Location of the municipality
Localització de Terrassa.png

Terrassa ( cat . [ Təˈrasə ], Spanish Tarrasa ) is a modern industrial city with a historic city center in the province of Barcelona in Catalonia ( Spain ) and is located 28 km northwest of Barcelona .

With 220,556 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) Terrassa is one of the largest cities in Catalonia. She took part in the industrial revolution of the 19th century.

Since 2004 the city has been the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Terrassa . The main church is the Catedral del Sant Esperit (Holy Spirit Cathedral ), which was consecrated in 1621. In Terrassa there is also a campus of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya , whose headquarters are in Barcelona .

Geographical location

The city is 286 meters above sea level.

Terrassa is located in the Comarca Vallès Occidental and, together with the neighboring town of Sabadell, is the administrative center and capital of this district.

City name

The city name developed from the 10th century name Terracia , which was in Catalan Terraça or Terrassa . In the 16th century the place was named Tarrassa until the name Terrassa was reverted to in the 19th century . In the time of Franquism , the name was changed to Tarrasa , which was reversed in 1977 after a citizens' initiative, so that the city is now called Terrassa again .

history

The oldest traces of settlement in the area of ​​today's Terrassa date from the Pleistocene period . Around the year 400 BC A first permanent settlement developed which later belonged to the Roman Empire . Under the emperor Vespasian this settlement was raised to a municipality under the name Egara or Municipium Flavium Egara . This Roman name can still be found today in the diocese of Egara .

With the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire, Christianity came to Terrassa in the 4th century, so that a church was built that was destroyed with the invasion of the Moors in the 8th century, the area around Terrassa from then on belonged to the Arab al-Andalus . In the 10th century the region was conquered again by the Christians as part of the Reconquista . 1110 a piece of land was there by Raimund Berengar III. , the Count of Barcelona, ​​was sold to a nobleman in order to build a fortress around which the present-day town was located.

During the industrial revolution , Terrassa continued to grow and in 1856 it was connected to the railway network. Due to the high population growth, the medieval city walls were torn down in 1876. In 1885 Terrassa had 15,956 inhabitants, in 1904 the municipality of Sant Pere was incorporated. The city's strong growth also brought an economic boom, which encouraged immigration, especially from southern Spain. In 1930 the city had just under 40,000 inhabitants; in 1960 there were already over 90,000 inhabitants. On September 25, 1962, Terrassa was hit by a flood disaster that claimed many lives.

population

Population development of Terrassa (until 2007)

The city of Terrassa is the fourth largest city in Catalonia with over 200,000 inhabitants behind L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and just behind Badalona .

Number of inhabitants
(source: INE )
year 1842 1877 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1981 1991 2001 2011
Residents 5,225 11,057 15,872 21,986 29,188 37,470 45,682 56,828 91,597 136,952 155.614 158.063 173.775 214.406

Attractions

The cityscape is essentially shaped by the architectural heritage of the Middle Ages, as well as by Modernisme (the Catalan Art Nouveau). There are also numerous witnesses (industrial buildings, chimneys) from the time when Terrassa was one of the leading cities of the industrial revolution.

Historic buildings

The three churches of Sant Pere from the 9th to 12th centuries ( church family of Terrassa ), Torre del Palau (a tower from the 12th century), Pont de Sant Pere (a bridge from the 17th century), Castell de Vallparadis (a castle from the 12th to 14th centuries), Terrassa Cathedral (17th century)

The Masia Freixa, built in 1907-10, now houses the conservatory

Art Nouveau buildings

The town hall, the Albiñana pharmacy (formerly Confiteria Viuda Carné), the conservatory (Masia Freixa) and various houses, etc. a. Casa Baumann, Casa Joan Barata, Casa Alegre de Sagrera, Casa Baltasar Gorina.

Industrial age

The factory buildings Vapor Aymerich, Amat i Jover (seat of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya , an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Culture), Izar, Marcet i Poal, the North Station (from 1899), the City Theater (from 1911) , the textile museum, the industrial school (Palau d'Indústries, from 1901) u. a.

traffic

Public transport

Terrassa is connected to the provincial capital and the surrounding area via the R4 and S1 lines of the Rodalies Barcelona suburban train network . In 2015, the extension of the S1, which initially ended in Terrassa Rambla, opened with the new stations Vallparadís - Universitat, Terrassa Estació del Nord (with a change to the R4) and Terrassa Nacions Unides. The construction cost 401 million euros.

Private transport

Terrassa is connected to Barcelona by two highways, the toll C-16 and the toll-free C-58.

Sports

Terrassa is known at home and abroad for its hockey tradition: With the CD Terrassa , Atlètic Terrassa and Club Egara , three top clubs of Spanish and Catalan hockey come from this city. The soccer club FC Terrassa , which already competed in the Segunda División and won the Copa Catalunya twice, currently plays in the Tercera División .

Town twinning

Sister cities of Terrassa are:

There are also agreements on development cooperation

Further bilateral agreements exist with

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Commons : Terrassa  - album with pictures, 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. ↑ a b c Archivo a fondo, terrassa.cat (Spanish), accessed on June 24, 2017
  3. ↑ HISTORIA DE LA CIUDAD (Spanish), terrassa.cat, accessed on June 24, 2017
  4. ↑ Inauguran las tres nuevas estaciones de la red de FGC en Terrassa (Spanish), elperiodico.com, accessed on June 24, 2017
  5. ↑ Como llegar a Terrassa (Spanish), visitaterrassa.cat, accessed on June 24, 2017
  6. ↑ Terrassa website - Convenis bilaterals i agermanaments (Catalan) , accessed on May 23, 2017