Sant Feliu de Llobregat
Encyclopedia
Sant Feliu de Llobregat (ˈsaɱ fəˈɫiw ðə ʎuβɾəˈɣat) is a city and municipality in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , 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...

, in the province of Barcelona
Barcelona (province)
Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia.-Overview:It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea....

. It is the capital of the comarca
Comarca
A 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 Baix Llobregat
Baix Llobregat
Baix Llobregat is a comarca on the coast of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Sant Feliu de Llobregat.-Municipalities:Populations are from 2002.* Abrera - pop. 9,166* Begues - pop. 5,023* Castelldefels - pop. 52,405...

, and the see of a Bishopric
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sant Feliu de Llobregat
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sant Feliu de Llobregat is a diocese located in the city of Sant Feliu de Llobregat in the Ecclesiastical province of Barcelona in Spain.-History:...

 since June 2005, when the Archbishopric of Barcelona was divided in three.

Geography

Sant Feliu is situated in the valley of the river Llobregat, and goes up to Parc de Collserola. The closest mountains to the city, which belong to the Serra de Collserola
Serra de Collserola
The Serra de Collserola , or simply Collserola, is a mountain range between the rivers Besòs and Llobregat. It is part of the Catalan Coastal Range....

, are the Puig d'Olorda (436.4 m), the Penya del Moro (375 m), the Puig Aguilar (387 m) and the Puig Sant Pere Màrtir (389 m).

Festivities

On 10 August is the feast of Saint Lawrence (Sant Llorenç), the patron saint of Sant Feliu. The other three important festivities in Sant Feliu are the Festa de la Tardor (Autumn Festival), which takes place in October, and the Festa de Primavera (Spring Festival), also known as Festa de la Rosa (Festival of the Rose) because of the National Rose Show held each May, and the Industrial Trade Show.

Famous people

  • Pedro Dot
    Pedro Dot
    Pedro Dot was a Spanish rose breeder.-Biography:Pedro Dot was born on 28 March 1885 outside Barcelona on the rose-growing Monistrol estate where his father was estate manager. His early experiments in hybridising roses were encouraged by the Marquise of Monistrol and the Countess of Sástago...

     i Martínez (28 March 1885 - 12 November 1976), best and most famous of Spanish rose breeders
  • Martí Dot i Parellada (April 14, 1900 - January 26, 1973), was a famous poet and playwright
  • Juan Carlos Navarro
    Juan Carlos Navarro (basketball)
    Juan Carlos Navarro Feijoo , nicknamed "La Bomba" , is a Spanish professional basketball player...

    , basketball player

History

Paleolithic remains found in the Can Albareda area show a prehistoric human presence. Iberian and Roman traces remain, for instance in the town square.

In Roman times and during part of the Middle Ages, the place was called Titian and Micano Tiano. The name Sant Feliu does not appear until 1002 in a document in the monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès
Monastery of Sant Cugat
The Monastery of Sant Cugat is a Benedictine abbey in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain. Founded in the 9th century, and built until the 14th century, it was the most important monastery in the county of Barcelona...

. The name originally applied to a chapel dedicated to Saint Feliu (Catalan for Felix).

The church of Sant Llorenç was built In 1524 (destroyed in the Civil War and since rebuilt). Until then, Sant Feliu depended on the parishes of Sant Just Desvern and Sant Joan Despí.

In the seventeenth century, Jaime Falguera built a palace in the town, with extensive grounds stretching to the Llobregat. Until recently the property remained in the family of the Marquis of Castellbell, noble descendants of Falguera, and the palace was used into the twentieth century. Today the municipality owns the palace and what is left of the gardens. The stables preserve a carriage of the Castellbell family.

In 1855 a railway line was built linking Barcelona and Vilafranca with a station at Sant Feliu. The town market was built in 1885. King Alfonso XIII made Sant Feliu a city in 1929 and in 1936 it became the capital of Baix Llobregat.

Steam-driven textile factories came early to the town: Bertrand (1861) and Solà and Sert (1893) are the most important firms today. But the heavy industrialisation of the town and its region came with the twentieth century introduction of electricity.

During the Civil War place names with monarchist or religious meaning were removed. The people of Sant Feliu became "Rosas del Llobregat" in acknowledgement of the history of rose growing in the area by such families as Dot and Camprubí.

In 1948 the Falange set up San Feliu Youth Radio, which despite its origins came to enjoy a certain independence. After a brief crisis it reopened in 1981 as Ràdio Sant Feliu.

In 1999 a new rose garden was planted to celebrate the work of Pedro Dot and other Spanish rose breeders. It has 20,000 roses and more than 400 varieties. The National Rose Show is held there each May.

In 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed to the Archbishop of Barcelona metropolitan of the province and separated off two new dioceses, making Sant Feliu a bishopric and San Lorenzo a cathedral.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK