Alcalá de Henares
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alcalá de Henares | |||||
| |||||
| Location | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image:España - Comunidad de Madrid - Alcalá de Henares.png Location of Alcalá | |||||
| Coordinates : 40º28’N , 3º22’W Time zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer : CEST (GMT +2) | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Native name | Alcalá de Henares (Spanish) | ||||
| Spanish name | Alcalá de Henares | ||||
| Founded | Preromanian | ||||
| Postal code | 28.801-28.807 | ||||
| Area code | 34 (Spain) + 91 (Madrid) | ||||
| Website | http://www.ayto-alcaladehenares.es | ||||
| Administration | |||||
| Country | Spain | ||||
| Autonomous Community | Madrid | ||||
| Province | Madrid | ||||
| Comarca | Alcalá | ||||
| Administrative Divisions | 1 | ||||
| Mayor | Bartolomé Gonzalez (PP) | ||||
| Geography | |||||
| Land Area | 88 km² | ||||
| Altitude | 654 m AMSL | ||||
| Population | |||||
| Population | 204.000 (2006) | ||||
| Density | 2.247,77 hab./km² (2006) | ||||
| University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| Image:Alcala de Henares, Spain, Plaza de Cervantes.jpg | |
| State Party | Image:Flag of Spain.svg Spain |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | ii, iv, vi |
| Reference | 876 |
| Region† | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1998 (22nd Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO. | |
Alcalá de Henares, or Alcalá on the Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and formerly one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain. Located in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, 35 km northeast of the city of Madrid, at a height of 2000 feet above sea level, it has a population of around 200,000, the second largest of the region after the Spanish capital itself. The city is generally known simply as "Alcalá", but "de Henares" is often appended to differentiate it from a dozen cities sharing the name Alcalá (from a Moorish Arabic word for fortification). It is capital of Comarca de Alcalá.
Contents |
[edit] Geography
The surroundings of the town are austere and bleak, but it is protected by hills on the north and east sides. Though part of the hills contains one of the biggest land-fill rubbish sites for the whole of the North East of Madrid. Depending on the prevailing winds a thin-veiled cloud of methane gas which emits from this rubbish tip filters over many parts of the city.
[edit] Physical structure
The centre of the city is medieval, with many twisty cobbled streets, and a lot of historic buildings. Unfortunately the city has not been cared by the city councillors and a lot of the streets badly need repair. Calle Andres Saborit is a beautiful cobbled street which runs adjacent to the old fortified wall. Sadly this tree-lined street has nearly all of its bollards broken, and the cars park on the pavement, making it impossible for pedestrians to walk freely.
Apart from the city centre where the cobbled streets physical limit the speed of the traffic, the rest of the city is anti-pedestrian. The cars park everywhere with cars parking ontop of the pavement, zebra crossings and double parking. The city does not seem to have any proper parking plan for its residents.
The main artery into the city from Madrid is the Via Complutense. This is a dual carriage-way with a speed limit of 40km but most days its like a race track with cars and buses speeding up to 80km. There are very few pelican crossings and they only stay green for pedestrians for a maximum of 10 seconds, that is if the traffic stop in the red which often they do not observe. Thousands of people take their lives into their hands crossing the pelican crossing from The Saint Bernard Gate to The O´Donnell Park.
Fortunately the old city centre has been saved, unlike the suburbs. The has been no clear planning by the city councillors and the city has been destroyed by the building of ugly seventies-style high rise blocks. With lack of clear building control, the city has developed into a beautiful centre surrounded by ugly working-class housing estates.
A city with such historical importance it is sad that the city councillors do not do more. A lot of old buildings are in ruins, many of the pavements are broken with no slabs and a lot of the roads have not seen asphalting for years. One of the most important streets in this city is Calle del Cardenal Cisneros. This street takes the tourists from The Madrid Gate, the entrance of the city, to the old city centre and the fabulous Cathedral in the Santos Niños Square. Unfortunately the street is not cobbled as it should be. It is poorly asphalted with extremely narrow pavements, impossible for people to pass one another, and with cars parked haphazardly.
[edit] History
The city boundaries have been inhabited since the Calcolithic. Pre-Roman Celtiberian tribes populated the hills nearby, but it was the conquering Romans who in 1 BC moved it to its current site. Thus, it became the only Roman town in the Madrid region - its ancient Latin name being Complutum. With 10,000 inhabitants, it reached the status of Municipium and had its own governing institutions. After the falling apart of the Roman Empire, under the Visigoths, it declined, although it also became a pilgrimage place for the Saints Justo and Pastor.
When in 711 the Moors arrived, they subdued the Visigothic city and founded another site, building an al-qalat, which it means "castle" in old Arabic, on a nearby hill, today known as Alcalá la Vieja (Old Alcalá). On May 3, 1118 it was reconquered by the Archbishop of Toledo, Spain Bernardo de Sedirac in the name of Castile. The Christians preferred the Burgo de Santiuste ("Saint Just's borough") on the original Roman site and the Arab one was abandoned. The city was ceded to the Bishopric of Toledo, which granted it ferial rights. Under Christian rule until the end of the Reconquista, the city sported both a Jewish and a Moorish quarter and had a renowned marketplace. Its central position allowed it to be a frequent residence of the Kings of Castile, when travelling south.
At some time in the 1480s Christopher Columbus had his first meeting at the "Casa de la Entrevista" with the Reyes Católicos, Ferdinand and Isabella, who financed the travel for the Discovery of America. In 1496, Cardinal Cisneros founded the Universidad Complutense, which became famous as a centre of learning during the Renaissance. For economic reasons, it was moved to Madrid in 1836 (under the name Universidad Complutense de Madrid). A new university was founded in the old buildings as the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in 1977. The city suffered severe damage during the Spanish Civil War.
[edit] Historic figures
The author Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares, and baptized in the Church of Santa Maria in 1547, although his family moved from the city when he was still young. The city celebrates his birthday, 9 October, every year and organizes an annual Cervantes festival. The local university is acknowledged as a global leader in the study of Cervantes and his works.
Other notable figures associated with the city are Ferdinand I of Aragon, the mystic John of the Cross, the theologian Gabriel Vázquez, the poet Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Hita and Manuel Azaña Díaz, writer and politician, who was President of the II Republic of Spain between 1933 and 1936.
[edit] Ecclesiastical history
The town of historic importance was one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain.
The polyglot Bible known as the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, the first of the many similar Bibles produced during the revival of Biblical studies that took place in the sixteenth century, was printed at Alcalá under the care of Cardinal Cisneros.
A Papal Bull of 7 March, 1885, united Alcalá with (effectively merging it into) the diocese of Madrid which includes the civil province of Madrid, suffragan of the archbishopric of Toledo, which was formally speaking not canonically erected before while its foundation dated from the Spanish Concordat of 1851.
The bishop's residence has since been used for preserving historical archives. It was designed by Berruguete and has a famous staircase.
The principal towns within the Diocese of Alcalá with their populations in 1904, are: Alcalá itself (10,300), Colmenar de Oreja (3694), Colmenar Viejo (4758), Chinchon (4200), Escorial (4570), Getafe (3820), Leganes (5412), Morata (4000), Navalcarnero (3788), Pinto (2396), San Martin de Valdeiglesias (3290), San Sebastian de los Reyes (1477), Tetuan (2825), Torrejon (3081), Valdemoro (2726) and Vallecas (5625).
[edit] The University
The major landmark and greatest pride of the city, its university, is spread throughout the city, but generally exists in two campuses. The first is on the north side of Alcala. This campus includes most science departments and student housing (as well as its own, separate RENFE station). The second, central campus, houses most of the humanity and social science departments, including a law school.
The architectural influence of the university can be found in other present-day academic institutions. The University of San Diego is largely based on the Spanish University; its campus and address take the name "Alcalá Park." In addition, the buildings at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, were modeled after the architecture of Universidad de Alcala de Henares.
It occupies the buildings of the old Universidad Complutense in the city centre. In the Middle Ages Alcala was famous for its university founded by Cardinal Cisneros, which stood on the site of the modern Colegio de San Ildefonso. The old University buildings fell in ruins, and the town which at one time had a population of 60,000, numbered in 1900 about 10,000 inhabitants.
The university chapel dedicated to Saint Ildefonso has a monument to Cardinal Cisneros by Fancelli, an Italian sculptor.
[edit] Climate
The climate in this city of central Spain is the continentalised Mediterranean, with cold, dry winters and hot, dry summers. Rains fall mainly in spring and autumn. Temperatures vary from some degrees below 0°C in December and January to some over 40°C in July and August.
[edit] Geography
At an average of 654 m of altitude, on the southern part of the Meseta Central and occupying some 88 km²; the city was for a long time encapsuled between the hills and the river Henares to the south and east by the Madrid-Barcelona railway on the north and west. However, the expanding population has forced two new residential areas to be created between the railway and the motorway and beyond the latter. The historical centre lies roughly in the middle of the urban area. It is characterised by lower, Spanish Golden Age buildings, of which the most lavish belong to the University. These historic buildings gained for the city the title of World Heritage Site, awarded by the UNESCO in 1998.
Surrounding it there are the awful, high, swiftly built blocks of the 1960's, the Francoist era. They fill spaces to the north up to the railway line and to the west until the industrial zone begins. This was erected in the early 60s and has developed and expanded. Now it occupies a good third of the city's area being cut by the mentioned railway and motorway. To the east, the old blocks limit with a more recent area of lower blocks with gardens and (semi-)detached houses. This kind of construction also makes up the landscape of the new districts beyond the railway and the motorway.
The river remains widely underused. Although there are plans now in force to reconvert it into a major leisure place for the alcalaínos, it still presents no more than fairly good tracks for cycling and walking.
[edit] Immigration
Some 18% of the population are of foreign origin, a large part of the newcomers (30%) are immigrants from Eastern Europe. Many Chinese businesses have also been established in the city. Alcalá is proud of having the largest community of Romanian immigrants in Spain, with over 22.000 people. For the first time legal immigrants from Romania created a political party for the elections on 2007. There is also a festival once a year, celebrated at the city central square (Plaza de Cervantes) dedicated to the people of Romania in Alcalá.
[edit] Transport and Tragedy
Alcalá's excellent transport links with Madrid have led to its becoming a commuter town, with many of its inhabitants travelling to work in the capital. It was affected particularly badly by the March 11, 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid as the bombed trains all originated at or passed through Alcalá.
[edit] Twinning
Alcalá de Henares, as the birthplace of Catherine of Aragon, is twinned with the English city of Peterborough in the United Kingdom, her final resting-place.
[edit] Sister Cities
- Image:Flag of the United States.svg Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
- Image:Flag of Romania.svg Alba Iulia, Romania
- Image:Flag of England.svg Cambridge, England
- Image:Flag of Poland.svg Lublin, Poland
- Image:Flag of the United States.svg San Diego, USA
- Image:Flag of France.svg Talence, France
[edit] Sources and external links
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. Madrid-Alcala
- Universidad de Alcala
- Google Maps: The Plaza de Cervantes in Alcalá de Henares
[edit] See also
- Complutenses, authors of the courses of Scholastic philosophy, theology and moral theology who were lecturers of the philosophical college of the Discalced Carmelites at Alcalá de Henares
Municipalities of the Madrid Metropolitan Area | |
|---|---|
| Ajalvir · Alcalá de Henares · Alcobendas · Alcorcón · Algete · Aranjuez · Arganda del Rey · Boadilla del Monte · Brunete · Ciempozuelos · Cobeña · Collado Villalba · Colmenar Viejo · Coslada · Fuenlabrada · Galapagar · Getafe · Hoyo del Manzanares · Humanes de Madrid · Las Rozas de Madrid · Leganés · Madrid · Majadahonda · Mejorada del Campo · Móstoles · Paracuellos de Jarama · Parla · Pinto · Pozuelo de Alarcón · Rivas-Vaciamadrid · San Agustín de Guadalix · San Fernando de Henares · San Martín de la Vega · San Sebastián de los Reyes · Torrejón de Ardoz · Torrelodones · Tres Cantos · Valdemoro · Velilla de San Antonio · Villanueva de la Cañada · Villaviciosa de Odón | Image:Flag of the Community of Madrid.svg |
Municipalities of the Comunidad de Madrid | |
|---|---|
| La Acebeda · Ajalvir · El Álamo · Alcalá de Henares · Alcobendas · Alcorcón · Aldea del Fresno · Algete · Alpedrete · Ambite · Anchuelo · Aranjuez · Arganda del Rey · Arroyomolinos · El Atazar · Batres · Becerril de la Sierra · Belmonte de Tajo · El Berrueco · Berzosa del Lozoya · Boadilla del Monte · Braojos · Brea de Tajo · Brunete · Buitrago del Lozoya · Bustarviejo · Cabanillas de la Sierra · La Cabrera · Cadalso de los Vidrios · Camarma de Esteruelas · Canencia · Carabaña · Casarrubuelos · Cenicientos · Cercedilla · Cervera de Buitrago · Chapinería · Chinchón · Ciempozuelos · Collado Mediano · Collado Villalba · Colmenar de Oreja · Colmenar del Arroyo · Colmenar Viejo · Colmenarejo · Corpa · Coslada · Cubas de la Sagra · El Escorial · Estremera · Fresnedillas de la Oliva · Fresno de Torote · Fuenlabrada · Fuente el Saz de Jarama · Fuentidueña de Tajo · Galapagar · Garganta de los Montes · Gascones · Getafe · Griñón · Guadalix de la Sierra · Guadarrama · La Hiruela · Horcajo de la Sierra · Horcajuelo de la Sierra · Hoyo de Manzanares · Leganés · Loeches · Lozoya · Lozoyuela-Navas-Sieteiglesias · Madarcos · Madrid · Majadahonda · Manzanares el Real · Meco · Miraflores de la Sierra · El Molar · Los Molinos · Montejo de la Sierra · Moraleja de Enmedio · Moralzarzal · Morata de Tajuña · Móstoles · Navacerrada · Navalagamella · Navalcarnero · Navarredonda y San Mamés · Navas del Rey · Nuevo Baztán · Olmeda de las Fuentes · Orusco de Tajuña · Paracuellos de Jarama · Parla · Pedrezuela · Pelayos de la Presa · Perales de Tajuña · Pezuela de las Torres · Pinilla del Valle · Pinto · Piñuécar-Gandullas · Pozuelo de Alarcón · Pozuelo del Rey · Puebla de la Sierra · Puentes Viejas · Quijorna · Rascafría · Redueña · Ribatejada · Rivas-Vaciamadrid · Robledillo de la Jara · Robledo de Chavela · Las Rozas de Madrid · Rozas de Puerto Real · San Agustín del Guadalix · San Fernando de Henares · San Lorenzo de El Escorial · San Martín de la Vega · San Martín de Valdeiglesias · San Sebastián de los Reyes · Santa María de la Alameda · Los Santos de la Humosa · La Serna del Monte · Serranillos del Valle · Sevilla la Nueva · Somosierra · Soto del Real · Talamanca de Jarama · Tielmes · Titulcia · Torrejón de la Calzada · Torrejón de Velasco · Torrelaguna · Torrelodones · Torremocha de Jarama · Torres de la Alameda · Tres Cantos · Valdaracete · Valdeavero · Valdemanco · Valdemaqueda · Valdemorillo · Valdemoro · Valdeolmos-Alalpardo · Valdepiélagos · Valdetorres de Jarama · Valdilecha · Valverde de Alcalá · El Vellón · Venturada · Villa del Prado · Villaconejos · Villalbilla · Villamanrique de Tajo · Villamanta · Villamantilla · Villanueva de la Cañada · Villanueva del Pardillo · Villar del Olmo · Villarejo de Salvanés · Villaviciosa de Odón · Villavieja del Lozoya · Zarzalejo | Image:Flag of the Community of Madrid.svg |
af:Alcalá de Henares br:Alcalá de Henares ca:Alcalá de Henares cs:Alcalá de Henares de:Alcalá de Henares es:Alcalá de Henares eo:Alcalá de Henares eu:Alcala de Henares fr:Alcalá de Henares ga:Alcalá de Henares gl:Alcalá de Henares id:Alcála de Henares it:Alcalá de Henares la:Complutum lb:Alcalá de Henares lt:Alkala de Henaresas nl:Alcalá de Henares ja:アルカラ・デ・エナレス pl:Alcalá de Henares pt:Alcalá de Henares ksh:Alcalá de Henares ro:Alcalá de Henares qu:Alcalá de Henares ru:Алькала-де-Энарес simple:Alcalá de Henares sr:Алкала де Енарес fi:Alcalá de Henares sv:Alcalá de Henares tr:Alcalá de Henares
