Valencia (city)

Valencia

Encyclopædia Orbis Latini

The city of Valencia is the capital of Valencia province and the autonomous community (region) of Valencia, and of the former kingdom of Valencia, eastern Spain.

Located on the Mediterranean coast at the mouth of the Río Turia (Guadalaviar), it is surrounded by orchards in a region known as the Huerta de Valencia. From Valencia's port, El Grao, are exported agricultural produce (rice, oranges, lemons, onions, wine) and manufactured items, including furniture, glazed tiles and ceramics, fans, textiles, and iron products.

Population: 770,277 (1982 est.).

History

The earliest mention (Valentia) is by the Roman historian Livy, who states that the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus settled the soldier veterans of the Lusitanian leader Viriathus there in 138 BC. It later became a prosperous Roman colony.

Taken by the Visigoths in AD 413 and in 714 by the Moors, it became in 1021 the seat of the newly established independent Moorish kingdom of Valencia, which extended from Almería to the Ebro estuary. From 1089 until the final capitulation of the city in 1094, the kingdom was fought for by the Spanish soldier-hero El Cid, who eventually secured it from the Moorish Almoravids. It remained in the hands of El Cid, after whom it is sometimes called Valencia del Cid, until his death there in 1099. The Moors recovered the city (and kingdom) in 1102.

In 1238 James I of Aragon added Valencia to his dominions; but the kingdom continued to be administered separately, with its own laws and parliament. In 1479, with the other countries of the Aragonese crown, the kingdom was united with Castile under the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, resulting in a long period of peace during which the city developed rapidly and the arts prospered. The first Spanish printing press is said to have been set up there in 1474, and during the next two centuries the city was the seat of the Valencian school of painting. During the Spanish Civil War it was the loyalist capital from 1936 to 1939.

Architecture

Valencia has been called the city of the 100 bell towers, of which the most outstanding are the Gothic Miguelete Tower (1381-1424), adjoining the cathedral, and the hexagonal Tower of Santa Catalina (1688-1705), a fine example of Valencian Baroque style. The most important church is the cathedral (La Seo), situated in the ancient city centre. Begun in the 13th century (completed 1482), it represents several styles (its three doorways are respectively Romanesque, Baroque, and Gothic); and it possesses many works of art, including two large religious paintings by Goya. On Thursdays at noon the doorway opening onto the Plaza de la Constitución is the site of the Tribunal de las Aguas (Water Court), which has been in existence at least since the 10th century. It is composed of farmers, who hear disputes over irrigation waters and dispense justice on the spot, conducting all proceedings orally, in the Valencian dialect of Catalan.

Notable civic buildings include the splendid late-Gothic (15th century) Lonja de la Seda (Silk Exchange); the Palacio de la Diputación, which housed the parliament of the kingdom of Valencia, with a 15th-century courtyard and beautifully panelled rooms; the Town Hall (Ayuntamiento), a modern building with important archives and the city historical museum; and the 18th-century Neoclassical Palacio de Justicia. Valencia was a walled town, but the walls were removed in the 19th century, and only two of its gates survive. Remains of Moorish buildings include the Almudín (the public granary), which houses the Museum of Paleontology, and the Baños del Almirante (13th century).

There are museums of art and ceramics, botanical gardens, and a university (1501) which, in the early 1970s, was being transferred to a newly developed University City.

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