Ávila
Ávila is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León in Spain. Located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, to the north of the Sistema Central, it lies on the right bank of the Adaja and, at an elevation of over above sea level, is the highest provincial capital in Spain.
While it is not a settled issue, the primitive urban core of Obila was probably founded after the Roman subjugation of the territory through the assimilation of indigenous peoples in connection to the Roman policy enforcing the abandonment of surrounding hilltop oppida. Medieval Christian settlement took hold in the 11th century, with the growing status of milieus associated to the council militias and the discrimination against peasantry deepening the social inequality from a relatively egalitarian starting point.
Ávila is sometimes called the "City of Stones and Saints" due to its well-preserved medieval architecture and its connection to prominent Spanish mystics.
The Old Town of Ávila with its extra muros churches were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
History
Ancient Avila
In pre-Roman times, Ávila was inhabited by the Vettones, who called it Obila and built one of their strongest fortresses here. There are Bronze Age stone statues of boars nearby.Ávila may have been the ancient town known as Abula, mentioned by Ptolemy in his Geographia as being located in the Iberian region of Bastetania. Abula is mentioned as one of the first towns in Hispania that was converted to Christianity by Secundus of Abula, however, Abula may alternatively have been the town of Abla.
After the conquest by ancient Rome, the town was called Abila or Abela. The plan of the town remains typically Roman; rectangular in shape, with its two main streets intersecting at a forum in the centre. Roman remains that are embedded in town walls at the eastern and southern entrances appear to have been ashlar altar stones.
By tradition, in the 1st century, Secundus, having travelled via the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, brought the Gospel to Ávila, and was created its first bishop.
Middle Ages
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ávila became a stronghold of the Visigoths. Conquered by the Moors , it was repeatedly attacked by the northern Iberian Christian kingdoms, becoming a virtually uninhabited no man's land. It was repopulated about 1088 following the definitive reconquest of the area by Raymond of Burgundy, son in law of Alfonso VI of León and Castile. Tradition holds that he employed two foreigners, an Italian, Casandro Romano, and a Frenchman, Florin de Pontuenga, to construct a stone frontier town and creating the walls that still stand.Ávila hosted a Jewish community in the Middle Ages. The first written evidence documenting the presence of Jews dates to 1144. By the end of the 13th century, the Jewish population in Ávila was one of the largest in Castile. In 1375, the Jews of Ávila were forced to watch a religious disputation between Juan de Valladolid and Moses ha-Kohen of Tordesillas. After the 1492 expulsion of the Jews, the Jewish community was nonexistent. Several synagogues existed in the city until the expulsion. Some of their properties were sold or auctioned in the years that followed, and in 1495 the Crown granted one of the synagogue sites to the Convent of the Incarnation on Lomo Street.
The city achieved a period of prosperity under the Catholic Monarchs in the early 16th century. During the Revolt of the Comuneros, the city became the first meeting place of the Santa junta on 1 August 1520. The Junta of Ávila drafted the Proyecto de Ley Perpetua in the Cathedral of Ávila in the Summer of 1520, envisaging that cities assembled every three years without the requirement for royal sanction or presence, determining taxation and acting as a check and balance on government activity.
Modern era
The city experienced a long decline since the 17th century, its population reducing to just 4,000 inhabitants.In the 19th century, there was some population growth with the construction of the railway line from Madrid to the French border at Irun and an important junction near the town.
In 1936, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the town quickly became part of the area occupied by rebel troops. Growth continued slowly again under Franco, but Ávila has not had a major influence in Spanish society in recent history, apart from the nurturing of politicians such as Adolfo Suárez, the first democratically elected prime minister of Spain post-Franco, and José María Aznar, prime minister from 1996 to 2004, who represented Ávila in the Cortes but was not from the town.
Geography
Situated 1132 metres above sea level on a rocky outcrop on the right bank of the Adaja river, a tributary of the Duero, Ávila is the highest provincial capital in Spain. It is built on the flat summit of a rocky hill, which rises abruptly in the midst of a veritable wilderness; a brown, arid, treeless table-land, strewn with immense grey boulders, and shut in by lofty mountains.Climate
Ávila's position results in a warm summer mediterranean climate bordering on a cold semi-arid climate with warm summers and chilly winters with snowfalls. The hottest month, July, has an average temperature of, and the coldest month, January, has an average of. The average annual precipitation is. Annual rainfall is low compared to surrounding areas, implying that it lies in a rain shadow. The Adaja is dry for several months of the year and the town has historically had water supply problems. Ávila has the coldest winter low temperatures of the Spanish provincial capital cities, thanks to its high altitude.Population
Education
Universities
Ávila has two universities: the Catholic University of Ávila and the University of Mysticism, which became operational on September 2, 2008. There are three colleges of the University of Salamanca : the Polytechnic School of Ávila, the College of Education and Tourism in Ávila, and the School of Nursing.Culture
Cultural image of the city
In his book El alma castellana, writer José Martínez Ruiz described it as "perhaps the most 16th-century town in Spain". Filmmaker Orson Welles once named Ávila as the place in which he would most desire to live, calling it a "strange, tragic place"; various scenes of his 1965 film Chimes at Midnight were filmed in the town.Popular celebrations
The first public festival after the winter cold is Holy Week.Ávila's other major holidays are October 15, Santa Teresa de Jesús, and May 2, San Segundo. The festivities take place around October 15 and the Summer Festival in mid-July.
Holy Week
Holy Week as celebrated in Ávila has garnered international tourist interest. It is one of the highest expressions of art and wealth as seen in numerous steps of Holy Week along the town walls. Processions have either fifteen or twelve fraternities.Fiestas de Santa Teresa
The festivities of Santa Teresa, the town's most famous historical resident, a canonized Catholic saint known for her mysticism and religious writings and the first female Doctor of the Church, last almost the entire month of October. The proclamation is done by the mayor in the Plaza Mayor, accompanied by some celebrity. After the proclamation was organized in the same place a musical performance with renowned singers.The festival program includes several musical concerts, a fairground, bullfights, passacaglia, processions of the fan groups, chocolate with churros and liturgical acts naturally focus on the day of the patroness, on 15 October with multitudinous mass presided by Bishop, then celebrated a great procession, headed the image of Santa Teresa with the Virgin of La Caridad, and is accompanied by all the authorities of Ávila, civil and military, and several bands music. The procession takes place between the Cathedral of Ávila and Santa Teresa Church. Takes place the day before the "Procession Girl" from the Iglesia de Santa Teresa to the cathedral.
Cuisine
Typical dishes of the town and region are judías del barco, chuletón de Ávila, patatas revolconas and yemas de Santa Teresa. Also worth mentioning are hornazo, bun stuffed with sausage, bacon, steak and eggs, mollejas de ternera and Cochinillo, which can be found in the capital and in Arévalo.Yemas de Santa Teresa
This sweet can always be found in the traditional pastry shop, La Flor de Castilla. In the other bakeries in the town it is produced under the name yemas de Ávila, or simply yemas, produced as its name indicates from egg yolk.Chuletón de Ávila
This is a grilled ribeye steak, best cooked rare, which can be enjoyed in any hotel in the town. It is made from Avileña-Negra ibérica, an indigenous black cow known for its excellent meat, whose fame transcends the borders of the province and the country.Sports
Venues
- Town Sport: swimming Pool, heated pool, tennis, paddle tennis, athletics, football, basketball, etc.
- North Zone: heated pool, football, basketball and tennis.
- Abulense Casino Club: pools, golf, tennis, paddle, cafeteria, restaurant, football, skating, basketball etc.
- Naturávila: golf, swimming, horse riding, walking, basketball, paddle tennis, football.
- San Antonio Sports Hall: in the north of the town is a large covered pavilion with basketball courts, tennis, soccer, squash, climbing.
- Polideportivo Carlos Sastre, on the outskirts of the town. Its inauguration took place on January 30, 2009, with a friendly match between Óbila Club de Basket of LEB Plata and LEB Oro C.B. León. It has basketball courts, soccer, tennis, volleyball, etc.