Villarreal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Villarreal municipality
coat of arms Map of Spain
Coat of arms of Villarreal
Villarreal (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Valencia
Province : Castellón
Coordinates 39 ° 56 ′  N , 0 ° 6 ′  W Coordinates: 39 ° 56 ′  N , 0 ° 6 ′  W
Height : 42  msnm
Area : 55.1 km²
Residents : 50,893 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density : 923.65 inhabitants / km²
Founding: February 20, 1274
Postal code : E-12540
Municipality number  ( INE ): 12135
Nearest airport : Aeropuerto de Manises (Valencia)
administration
Mayor : José Benlloch Fernández ( PSOE )
Website : www.villarreal.es
Location of the municipality
Villarreal-Mapa de la Plana Baja.svg

Villarreal ( Spanish : Villarreal ), Valencian and officially Vila-real , is a city in the Valencian Community in eastern Spain and the second largest city in the province of Castellón . The city is internationally mainly by the football club Villarreal CF known.

geography

Villarreal is located on a flat hill in the coastal plain on the Mijares not far from its confluence with the Mediterranean Sea , about eight kilometers south of the provincial capital Castellón de la Plana in the province of the same name and about 60 kilometers north of Valencia .

history

The city was founded on February 20, 1274 by order of King James I of Aragón with a rectangular plan. Hence the name Vila-real , the “city of the king”. The reason was to secure a strategically important position on the former Roman road Via Augusta in order to secure the areas that were recaptured during the Reconquista against the Moors .

The first major expansion outside the original walled village took place in the 14th century under the protection of the Kingdom of Valencia . The agricultural situation was improved in the 16th and 17th centuries by building wells. After the city was badly affected during the War of the Spanish Succession , the first industries, especially the textile industry, developed in Villarreal towards the end of the 18th century . In the 19th century the cultivation and sale of oranges began , which led to a noticeable economic boom in the city. The income from the orange trade was invested in the construction of factories for ceramic tiles after the Spanish Civil War , which are still of great economic importance for the city today.

Attractions

  • Church of San Pascual, with the tomb of the city patron Pascual Bailón inside
  • Plaza Mayor, arcade-lined main square

  • City map of Villarreal from 1564 by Rafael Martí de Viciana

  • Carrer major

  • Santuario de San Pascual Baylón

  • Plaça de la Vila

Sports

Villarreal CF.

One of today's most important figureheads of the city is the football club Villarreal CF , which played in the Primera División after being promoted in the 2013/14 season and made it to the quarter-finals in 2009 and even to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2006 . In both cases, Villarreal CF failed at Arsenal .

Daughters and sons of the city

Web links

Commons : Vila-real  - 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).