León (Spain) - León (Spagna)

Leon is a city of Spain located in the region of Castile and León and capital of the province of the same name.

To know

Background

The city was built around 29 BC. as a Roman military camp of the Legio VI Victrix, engaged in the so-called Cantabrian wars (29-19 BC). Legion VII was the only one to remain in the land of Iberia until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476). The plant of the castrum Roman is still visible today together with the walls that surrounded it. Outside the walls, artisans and those who provided for the needs of the legionaries settled. Archaeological excavations have unearthed the foundations of the baths under the cathedral and an amphitheater with a capacity of 5,000 spectators, currently buried under the Cascalerías street.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, León became part of the ephemeral kingdom of the Swabians (410-584) and then del Visigothic kingdom up to Arab-Berber conquest of the eighth century. At the time the city was depopulated due to its position within the buffer zone between the Christian kingdoms in the north and the Caliphate of Cordoba in the south.

Around 846 a group of Mozarabs he tried to repopulate the city which, despite the vicissitudes, had kept its Roman walls. The attempt was thwarted by attacks Umayyads until in 853 the king of Asturias Ordoño I (850-866) took possession of the city.

Around 909 the king of Asturias Alfonso III he divided the kingdom between his three sons and gave León to his eldest son Garcia.

The reign of León lasted until the union with Castile in 1230. During this period the city flourished also because it was located on the Camino de Santiago, perhaps the most important route of the Middle Ages for the circulation of people, ideas, culture and art, comparable in this to the silk road. In the 10th century, King Ordoño II consecrated the first cathedral on the site of the ancient Roman baths while his son Ramiro II was responsible for the construction of the first palace, the Palat de Rey.

Alfonso VII (1105–1157) took advantage of the crumbling of the Almoravid empire to make several conquests going as far as Cordova (1144) and beyond. But the Almohads, who had taken over North Africa and, from 1146, had begun the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, forced Alphonsus VII to retreat and wage a defensive war. In 1143, in Zamora, faced with the legate of Pope Innocent II, Cardinal Guido da Vico, Alfonso VII also renounced his rights over Portugal in favor of his cousin, Alfonso Henríquez, who became the first king of Portugal.

On the death of Alfonso VII the kingdom was divided: the kingdom of Castile went to his son Sancho and the kingdom of León to Ferdinand.

Alfonso IX (1171–1230) was the last king of León. He founded the University of Salamanca and in 1215 issued a document stating that serfs could not be sold together with real estate and that they could marry without the permission of the owners.

Alfonso IX died in 1230, while on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and was buried in the Cathedral of Santiago next to his father, Ferdinand II. After him the kingdoms of León and Castile were unified under the crown of Ferdinand III.

Although it was no longer a royal residence, the city remained prosperous and in 1302 the reconstruction of the cathedral was completed. The plague made its appearance in 1349, decimating the population by 1/4. The revival occurred in the early 15th century. New houses and new churches were built. At that time the inhabitants of León numbered about 5,000 while the nearby cities of Salamanca and Burgos had a population of between ten thousand and fifteen thousand.

After the discovery of America León saw, like other cities of the Meseta, a stagnation of its population and its industrial or commercial activities. In 1749, under the aegis of the Secretary of State, José de Carvajal, a building was erected in the Campo de San Francisco with the aim of boosting the production and trade of yarns but after 20 years the factory had already stopped working and soon after it was transformed into a hospice.

León was, together with Zamora, one of the least populated cities of the plateau. In case of bad harvests, peasants flocked to begging from the countryside and numerous homeless people knocked on the doors of the numerous convents in order not to die of hunger. Overcrowding, combined with poor sanitation, caused several epidemics to arise, increasing the mortality rate.

The city was occupied by Napoleonic troops from 1808 to 1813. In 1833 the city acquired the rank of provincial capital. As in the rest of Spain, church property was confiscated by Juan Álvarez Mendizábal. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, coal mining turned León into a prosperous trading center. Several railway lines were inaugurated to transport coal from the mines to the industrial port of Bilbao. In 1871 the iron bridge over the Bernesga river was completed.

In León la civil war was heralded by the miners' revolt of July 1936 which led to the takeover of the Republicans in September of the following year, the Francoist offensive recovered all the mountain passes, ending the war in the north on 21 October 1937.

During Franco's dictatorship the city continued to grow, receiving waves of immigrants, mostly low-skilled workers or clerks looking for work. To make up for the lack of housing, the construction of entire suburban neighborhoods north of the center (San Esteban, San Mamés, Mariano Andrés, Las Ventas and La Inmaculada) was started.

After the return of democracy, the University of León was founded and the airport was inaugurated. The industrial area of ​​Onzonilla and the technology park were also arranged with the aim of grouping the factories scattered all over the place. In 1997 the old town was pedestrianized.

In the 21st century, new highways were opened for Astorga, Benavente and Valladolid and in 2010 the new airport terminal was inaugurated. The railways have also been renovated to be used by high-speed trains.

How to orient yourself

How to get

On the train

• 42.5951-5.582041 León station (At the end of the extension of Viale Ordono II). It is the main railway station of the city which since 18 March 2011 replaces the old northern station.  

How to get around

What see

Religious architectures

• 42.599444-5.5666671 Cathedral. A diocesan museum is attached to it (Museo Catedralicio Diocesano de León).  

• 42.60075-5.5709442 Real Basílica of Sant'Isidoro. In the Museum of the Real Colegiata de San Isidoro there is the pantheon of kings, which receives the name of the Sistine Chapel of the Romanesque for its frescoes. On display are the cáliz de Doña Urraca, from the 11th century, of this chalice a news that appeared on the museum's website on 23 March 2014, states that it is the Holy Grail, the legendary cup in which Jesus Christ drank during the Last Supper [2]; the Arqueta de los Marfiles and the Portapaz del Pantocrator, from the same century.  

• 42.601611-5.5823 Convent of San Marco.  

• 42.603611-5.5758334 Iglesia de San Juan y San Pedro de Renueva.  

• 42.597806-5.5712785 Iglesia de San Marcelo.  

• 42.595039-5.5688816 Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Mercado.  

Civil and military architectures

• 42.594286-5.5676757 Murallas de León.  
• 42.598283-5.5705568 Botines house.  
• 42.598283-5.57059 Palacio de los Guzmanes.  
• 42.597258-5.5692110 Palacio del Conde Luna.  

Museums

• 42.598333-5.57138911 León Museum, Plaza de Santo Domingo. Housed in the interiors of the Pallarés Building, the museum displays the history of the province of León from the Paleolithic to the contemporary age.  
• 42.60639-5.5827812 MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Arte de Castilla y León), Avenida de los Reyes Leoneses. It is an avant-garde court building, which wants to resemble the stained glass windows of the cathedral of León.  

• 42.599278-5.56797213 Sierra-Pambley Museum. founded by Francisco Fernández-Blanco y Sierra-Pambley, it shows a typical Leonese house from the 19th century.  

Events and parties

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Shows

• Auditorium Ciudad de León.  

Where to eat

Moderate prices

• 42.59795-5.569471 Cervecería Restaurante Kadabra León, Calle Regidores, 5, ☎ 34 987 39 75 50. Mon-Thu 19: 30-00: 00, Fri-Sat: 13: 00-01: 00, Sun 13: 00-00: 00. brewery. 

• 42.60667-5.566072 Zielo Snack & Bar, Calle Virgen del Camino, 2, ☎ 34 987 04 56 21. 

Where stay

Safety

How to keep in touch

Around

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning León (Spain)
• Commons contains images or other files on León (Spain)

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