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Calahorra

Coordinates: 42°18′00″N 1°58′00″W / 42.30000°N 1.96667°W / 42.30000; -1.96667
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Calahorra
Calagorra (Aragonese)
City and Municipality
Cathedral of Santa María
Statue to La Matrona of Calahorra and Parador de Turismo Marco Fabio Quintiliano
Town hall and monument to Quintiliano
Romanization Museum
Skyline of the old town
Flag of Calahorra
Flag
Coat of arms of Calahorra
Coat of arms
Location of the Municipality within La Rioja.
Location of the Municipality within La Rioja.
Calahorra is located in La Rioja, Spain
Calahorra
Calahorra
Location in La Rioja
Calahorra is located in Spain
Calahorra
Calahorra
Location in Spain
Coordinates: 42°18′00″N 1°58′00″W / 42.30000°N 1.96667°W / 42.30000; -1.96667
Country Spain
Autonomous community La Rioja
ProvinceLa Rioja
("Uniprovincial" autonomous community)
ComarcaRioja Baja
Government
 • Mayor
(Since 2019)		Elisa Garrido Jiménez (PSOE)
Area
 • Total93.57 km2 (36.13 sq mi)
Elevation
358 m (1,175 ft)
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total23,923
 • Density260/km2 (660/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CET)
Websitewww.ayto-calahorra.es

Calahorra (Spanish: [kalaˈora]; Aragonese: Calagorra; Latin: Calagurris) is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as Calagurris Nassica Iulia.

Location

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The city is located on a hill at an altitude of 358 metres at the confluence of the Ebro and Cidacos rivers, and has an area of 91.41 km². Calahorra is the second-largest city in La Rioja in population and importance, after the capital, Logroño. Its population is 23,923 people.

It is well-connected to other cities, especially by highway. It is situated in the Ebro valley, 48 kilometres from Logroño, 120 km from Zaragoza and 180 km from Bilbao, and is connected to these cities by national highway 232, the A-68 motorway (Vasco-Aragonesa) and the Bilbao-Zaragoza rail line.

Its daily bus services link it to such cities as Pamplona, Soria and San Sebastián.

Its status as seat of a comarca and judicial district make it a service-industry city in administrative, commercial and leisure fields.

History

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Calahorra has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, and its stable population dates to the Iron Age.

Rome conquered the town in 187 BC and brought it to its highest point of importance as an administrative centre for surrounding regions. Calahorra supported Quintus Sertorius in his war against Pompey, whom the city resisted successfully since 76 BC. It was only taken four years later by Pompey's legate Lucius Afranius, after a lot of inhabitants had died from starvation and there had occurred cannibalism. Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar gave the city (then named Calagurris) numerous distinctions, converted it into a municipality, and developed its city planning, economy, and politics. Its archeological remains show that it had a circus, baths, an amphitheatre, and other services found in large cities. It minted money and served as a justice administration centre.

Quintilian, well known for his descriptions of the culture of that time, was born in Calahorra, and the Parador in the city is named after him. It has Roman ruins in the grounds. Saints Emeterius and Celedonius, martyred in the city around 305 AD, are the patron saints of the city, and the city's coat of arms depict their names. The cathedral is dedicated to them. The Christian Roman poet Prudentius may have inhabited at some point in Calahorra, who pinpoints it on the territory of the Vascones in the 4th century.

After the rule of the Moors in the 9th and 10th centuries the Christian king García Sánchez III of Pamplona captured the city in 1045.

Calahorra was once home to one of the most ancient Jewish communities in Castile, dating to 1145 AD. In 1492, when the Jews were expelled, most left rather than become conversos.[2]

The population had reached 7,000 by the 1840s.[3]

Politics

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List of mayors since the democratic elections of 1979
Term Mayor Political Party
1979–1983 Ernesto Sáenz Enciso CIR
1983–1987 María Antonia San Felipe PSOE
1987–1991 Fernando Deza (1987), María Antonia San Felipe AP, PSOE
1991–1995 María Antonia San Felipe PSOE
1995–1999 Javier Pagola PP
1999–2003 Javier Pagola PP
2003–2007 Javier Pagola PP
2007–2011 Javier Pagola PP
2011–2015 Javier Pagola (2011-2014), Luis Martínez-Portillo (2014-2015) PP
2015–2019 Luis Martínez-Portillo PP
2019–2023 Elisa Garrido Jiménez PSOE
2023– n/d n/d

Places of Interest

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'Calahorra Cathedral is in Cadiz, not Calahorra'

Twin cities

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  • Cathedral of Calahorra (main facade).
    Cathedral of Calahorra (main facade).
  • Chapel of the Calahorra Castle, from an albumen print taken by the French photographer Jean Laurent, c. 1865-1881
    Chapel of the Calahorra Castle, from an albumen print taken by the French photographer Jean Laurent, c. 1865-1881
  • View of Calahorra
    View of Calahorra

See also

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La Calahorra Village in Andalucia

References

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  1. ^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
  2. ^ "Calahorra, Spain". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  3. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol.IV, (1848) London, Charles Knight, p.19
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