Astorga (Astorga)
Astorga is a municipality and city of Spain located in the central area of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, 27 mi southwest of the provincial capital. It is located in the transit between the Páramo Leonés and the mountains of León and acts as the backbone of the comarcas of Maragatería, La Cepeda and the Ribera del Órbigo. The city is the head of one of the most extensive and oldest dioceses of Spain, whose jurisdiction covers half of the province of León and part of Ourense and Zamora. It is also head of the judicial party number 5 of the province of León.
Astorga lies in the area of the Maragatos, a small ethnic and cultural community with distinctive customs and architecture. The town lies at the junction of the French route, the most popular path and Vía de la Plata route, an alternative path of the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago). Saint Turibius of Astorga was bishop of the city in the 5th century.
* Catedral de Santa María de Astorga
* 19th-century Episcopal Palace (Palacio Espiscopal), designed by Antoni Gaudí.
* 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, two baths (late 1st and 3rd century AD), remains of the forum and several mosaics.
* Roman museum ("La Ergastula").
* Remains of the ancient city walls.
* Chocolate museum.
Astorga lies in the area of the Maragatos, a small ethnic and cultural community with distinctive customs and architecture. The town lies at the junction of the French route, the most popular path and Vía de la Plata route, an alternative path of the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago). Saint Turibius of Astorga was bishop of the city in the 5th century.
* Catedral de Santa María de Astorga
* 19th-century Episcopal Palace (Palacio Espiscopal), designed by Antoni Gaudí.
* 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, two baths (late 1st and 3rd century AD), remains of the forum and several mosaics.
* Roman museum ("La Ergastula").
* Remains of the ancient city walls.
* Chocolate museum.
Map - Astorga (Astorga)
Map
Country - Spain
Flag of Spain |
Anatomically modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 42,000 years ago. The ancient Iberian and Celtic tribes, along with other pre-Roman peoples, dwelled the territory maintaining contacts with foreign Mediterranean cultures. The Roman conquest and colonization of the peninsula (Hispania) ensued, bringing the Romanization of the population. Receding of Western Roman imperial authority ushered in the migration of different non-Roman peoples from Central and Northern Europe with the Visigoths as the dominant power in the peninsula by the fifth century. In the early eighth century, most of the peninsula was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, and during early Islamic rule, Al-Andalus became a dominant peninsular power centered in Córdoba. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in Northern Iberia, chief among them León, Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre made an intermittent southward military expansion, known as Reconquista, repelling the Islamic rule in Iberia, which culminated with the Christian seizure of the Emirate of Granada in 1492. Jews and Muslims were forced to choose between conversion to Catholicism or expulsion, and eventually the converts were expelled through different royal decrees.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
EUR | Euro | € | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
EU | Basque language |
CA | Catalan language |
GL | Galician language |
OC | Occitan language |
ES | Spanish language |