Tortosa

Tortosa ( Latin Dertusa in ) is a city in the North-East of the Spain, in Catalogne. It is the capital of the Comarque de Baix Ebre in the Province of Tarragone.

Tortosa is located on the Èbre at 12 meters above the sea level. The city counted 30 088 inhabitants in 1996.

It was conquered by the Moors then by the count Raimond-Berenger IV of Barcelona in 1148.

Gentilé (in Catalan): Tortosí, tortosina. The September 11th, Catalan festival with splendid fireworks and processions in the streets of the city.

Demography

History

Tortosa was perhaps the Hibera , capital of the Iberian territory of the Ilercavonia .
At the time Roman, it was called Dertosa .
In the years 804, 808 and 809, Tortosa was attacked by the francs of Louis the Piles and the goths ordered by Berà Count de Barcelone.
Between 1035 and 1148, it was called Turtuxa , center of a Moslem Taifa.
the the Christian Middle Ages and the Renaissance were also moments of splendor of the city. For a few years, Tortosa has celebrated historical days of festivals, the Festa del Renaixement (Fiestas del Renacimiento).
With the XIXe century, Tortosa is transformed into an important center carlist, although placed under the domination of the liberal troops.
the rise, started during the first decades of the XXe century, was broken by the bombardments at the time of the Guerre of Spain, which practically destroyed the city.
the rebuilding was slow and difficult. Tortosa entered again during a time of decline which the independence of the villages of the Delta of the Èbre worsened.
Tortosa is a city forgotten by the area of Tarragone; Tortosa forever successful to obtain the official statute of " Province" in Catalonia as Tarragone obtained; one calls the area of Tortosa the " quinta provincia" , which one could translate by the " fifth wheel of the carrosse".

Personalities

Ramón Will pull up

Monuments

Castle of Sant Joan or Zuda

It is impressive a Forteresse, high with 59 meters with the top of the sea level. It dominates the city and the river. The Romans built the first walls of them.

But in fact the Musulmans, under the command of the Caliph Abderramán III gave form to this fabulous construction, and its surroundings. Today on the esplanade of Parador (the Zuda ), one can always see a well of large diameter and very major which was fed by water of close Èbre: it would date from year 944. Others zudas , with wells close to rivers, can be seen with Saragossa and Lérida.

Reconquered by the Count Berenguer IV, the castle was given to Montcada and the Ordre of the Temple as marks gratitude for the assistance brought during the battle.

From this time, Parador preserves three superb chimneys and four more bays characteristic of the best Catalan Gothic.

Since 1294, when the Seigniory of Tortosa passed under the domination of the Crown, Zuda was converted into royal palace, with the addition of new rooms and defensive elements.

With the the Middle Ages, the castle was the seat of the Court of Justice of the time. Medieval constructions which remained are very dissimulated by the work completed with XVIIe and XVIIIe centuries, at the time of the fortification of the two close hills to form a defense system. King Jacques Ier the Conqueror made his favorite residence of it and from here, it prepared the reconquest of Morella, Peñíscola and Burriana.

It is the thousand-year-old castle, guard of the rich person history of the city. From his remainders, one extracted a stone, with coufic writing, which quotes verses of the Coran. Ibères, Romans and Arabic left their traces in the basement. Documents, weapons and horseshoes hid at the bottom of the well.

Cathedral of Santa María

The Cathédrale of Santa Maria was started in the year 1347, when the bishop Arnau de Llordat solemnly posed the first stone in the middle of the Abside the May 21st 1347; it was devoted in 1597, when the bishop Morella N Gaspar de Punter devoted the Gothic cathedral. It is estimated that his construction - such that we know it today aujourd' lasted 412 years.

Its interior is luminous because of the many stained glasses and the replacement of the walls by arcades. In the apse one finds the Retable Transfiguration, works of the artist Jaume Huguet, XVe century, and on the Master furnace bridge, the retable of Santa Maria, out of polychrome wood, with scenes of New Testament and the Virgin.

The Cloister of the cathedral, built by the canons of Saint Augustin, presents an irregular form and contains an important collection of inscriptions on its walls. One reaches it since outside by the typical gate of the Olivera (XVIIIe century), of style Baroque.

The Church Cathedral carries the title of Basilique. The external apse, the Waste-gas main S, the double Déambulatoire, the Presbytery and the three naves clearly post a Gothic style elegant, refined and, over all, technically daring.

Brood of Santa Clara

It is one of the oldest convents of Tortosa , since it was founded in 1283. An aunt and a sister of Cristòfor Despuig were abbesses, while a brother of Despuig was the priest.

He has a Cloître Gothic style Spanish, which one preserves only two wings, the wings north and west, with arcs lobules and trefoil. The barrels of the columns are in very bad condition and the majority was replaced. Church, which had been that of the templier S, one preserves only the arcades in pointed arch.

See too

List of the bishops of Tortosa
List of comarques of Catalonia
Provinces of Spain
Battle of Èbre

External bonds

Official site of town hall
Tortosa
Festival '' del Renaixement '' (in French)

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