Astorga is a town in the province of León, northern
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It lies southwest of the provincial capital of
LeónLeón is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
, and is the head of the council (
comarcaA comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co- meaning "together, jointly".The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada and...
) of La Maragatería. The river Tuerto flows through it. , its population was about 12,100 people.
Astorga lies in the area of the Maragatos, a small ethnic and cultural community with distinctive customs and architecture. The town lies along the
French routeThe French Way is the most popular of the routes of the Way of St. James, the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It runs from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles on the Spanish side and then another 780km on to Santiago de...
of the
Way of St. JamesThe Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....
. Saint Turibius of Astorga was bishop of the city in the 5th century.
History
Astorga was originally a Celtic settlement which later become one of the
RomanAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
strongholds in the region they called
Asturica. The Roman city was founded in 14 BC, being entitled by Emperor Octavian as
Asturica Augusta. Ruins of Roman baths are still visible today.
Asturica was the main city in north-west Spain during the Roman Empire.
PliniusGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
called the city
Urbs magnifica ("magnificent city"). The
Via Platea went from Asturica (Astorga) to Emerita (Mérida). One of the first three bishoprics in Spain was founded in Astorga, so the title of Bishop of Astorga is one of the oldest religious charges of Europe.
After the campaigns of
Alfonso I of AsturiasAlfonso I , called the Catholic , was the King of Asturias from 739 to his death in 757.He was son of Duke Peter of Cantabria and held many lands in that region. He may have been the hereditary chief of the Basques, but this is uncertain...
(739-757) against the
MoorsThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
, the city was abandoned, being in the largely empty buffer zone between Moors and Christians known at the time as "The Desert of the Duero", and was part of the
RepoblaciónThe Repoblación was the ninth-century repopulating of a large region between the River Duero and the Cantabrian Cordillera which had been depopulated in the early years of the Reconquista....
("repopulation") effort carried out a century later during the reign of
Ordoño I of AsturiasOrdoño I was King of Asturias from 850 until his death.-Biography:He was born in Oviedo, where he spent his early life in the court of Alfonso II. He was probably associated with the crown from an early age. He was probably raised in Lugo, capital of the province of Galicia, of which his father,...
(850-866). Astorga suffered from decadence until the 11th century, when the city became a major stop on the French route for the pilgrims to the tomb of Saint James in Compostela. Construction of the cathedral began in the 15th century and finished in the late 18th century.
During the
Peninsular WarThe Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, Astorga was besieged by the French Napoleonic troops. Astorga was the farthest town in the Iberian Peninsula in which the Emperor Napoleon resided.
Main sights
- Catedral de Santa María de Astorga
The Cathedral of Astorga is a Roman Catholic church in Astorga, Spain. It was declared a national monument in 1931....
- 19th century Episcopal Palace (Palacio Espiscopal), designed by Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...
.
- Town Hall, construction started in 1683. It is a Baroque edifice with three towers in its façade, the middle one including the bells.
- Roman archaeological remains, including those of the original military camp, the sewers
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
, two baths (late 1st and 3rd century AD), remains of the forum and several mosaics.
- Remains of the ancient city walls.
External links