Girona

Girona
Coordinates: 41°59′04″N 02°49′16″E / 41.98444°N 2.82111°E / 41.98444; 2.82111
Elevation	+76 m (249 ft)
Population	94,484
- Density	2.414/km2 (6.3/sq mi)
Area code(s)	972
Website	http://www.girona.cat/

Girona (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒiˈɾonə], Spanish: Gerona; often spelt Gerona in English) is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell with an estimated population of 95,000. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès.

History

The first inhabitants in the region were Iberians; Girona is the ancient Gerunda, a city of the Ausetani. Later, the Romans built a citadel there, which was given the name of Gerunda. The Visigoths ruled in Girona until it was conquered by the Moors. Finally, Charlemagne reconquered it in 785 and made it one of the fourteen original countships of Catalonia. Thus it was wrested temporarily from the Moors, who were driven out finally in 1015. Guifré I incorporated Girona to the countship of Barcelona in 878. Alfonso I of Aragón declared Girona to be a city in the 11th century. The ancient countship later became a duchy (1351) when king Pere III d' Aragón gave the title of Duke to his first-born son, Joan. In 1414, King Ferran I in turn gave the title of Prince of Girona to his first-born son, Alfonso. The title is currently carried by Prince Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the first since the 16th century to do so.

The 12th century saw a flourishing of the Jewish community of Girona, with one of the most important Kabbalistic schools in Europe. The Rabbi of Girona, Moshe ben Nahman Gerondi (better known as Nahmanides or Ramban) was appointed Great Rabbi of Catalonia. The history of the Jewish community of Girona ended in 1492, when the Catholic Kings expelled all the Jews from Catalonia. Today, the Jewish ghetto or Call is one of the best preserved in Europe and is a major tourist attraction. On the north side of the old city is the Montjuïc (or hill of the Jews in medieval Catalan), where an important religious cemetery was located.

Unofficial flag of Girona.

Girona has undergone twenty-five sieges and been captured seven times. It was besieged by the French royal armies under Marshal Hocquisicourt in 1653, under Marshal Bellefonds in 1684, and twice in 1694 under de Noailles. In May, 1809, it was besieged by 35,000 French Napoleonic troops under Vergier, Augereau and St. Cyr, and held out obstinately under the leadership of Alvarez until disease and famine compelled it to capitulate, 12 December. Finally, the French conquered the city in 1809, after 7 months of siege. Girona was center of Ter department during French rule between 1809-1813. The defensive city walls were demolished at the end of the 19th century to allow for the expansion of the city. In recent years, the missing parts of the city walls on the eastern side of the city have been reconstructed. Called the Passeig de la Muralla it now forms a tourist route around the old city.

Girona landmarks include Saint Mary's Cathedral (left) and the Passeig de la Muralla (right)

Houses along the riu: the bridge's concrete span is 25 cm thick at the center

Climate

Girona has a mild climate. The winters are cold and the summers are hot. In winter temperatures can drop to below -5°C (23°F) sometimes due to winds coming from the Pyrenees. In the summer temperatures often soar to about 30-40°C (86-104°F) in the high season of July and August. Rain is common in winter and spring and thunderstorms often occur. Frost is common in winter, making temperatures seem colder than they actually are.

Main sights

Narrow streets dominate the area of Girona's old city

The ancient portion of the city with its once-formidable fortifications stands on the steep hill of the Capuchins, while the more modern section is in the plain and stretches beyond the river. The bastions of the walls which have withstood so many sieges are still to be seen.

The ancient cathedral, which stood on the site of the present one, was used by the Moors as a mosque, and after their final expulsion was either entirely remodelled or rebuilt. The present edifice is one of the noblest monuments of the school of the Majorcan architect Jaume Fabre and one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in Spain. It is approached by eighty-six steps. An aisle and chapels surround the choir, which opens by three arches into the nave, of which the pointed stone vault is the widest in Christendom (73 feet). Among its interior decorations is a retable which is the work of the Valencian silversmith Pere Bernec. It is divided into three tiers of statuettes and reliefs, framed in canopied niches of cast and hammered silver. A gold and silver altar-frontal was carried off by the French in 1809. The cathedral contains the tombs of Ramon Berenger and his wife.

The Collegiate Church of Sant Feliu is also architecturally noteworthy. Its style is fourteenth-century Gothic, the façade dating from the eighteenth, and it is one of the few Spanish churches which possesses a genuine spire. It contains, besides the sepulchre of its patron and the tomb of the valiant Álvarez, a chapel dedicated to St. Narcissus, who according to tradition was one of the early bishops of the see.

The Benedictine church of Sant Pere de Galligants is in Romanesque style of an early date.

Most traces of Girona's rich Jewish history were wiped out when the Jews were expelled from Spain (see Spanish expulsion), however some remain. On Carrer de Sant Llorenc, the doorway of an old building has a rectangular indentation which once held a mezuzah. Further along is the Centre Bonastruc ça Porta and the Catalan Jewish Museum. The Bonastruc ça Porta project started in the 1970s, when it became fashionable to renovate properties in the old town. Clearing away nearly 700 years of construction, Jose Tarres, a local restaurateur, discovered the remains of what turned out to be the medieval yeshiva founded by Nahmanides.

The city has a number of relevant Art Nouveau buildings including the Farinera Teixidor by Rafael Masó.

Panorama of Girona: cases penjades on Onyar River, the Cathedral to the centre of the image and Sant Feliu collegiate to the left

Sports

During the professional cycling season, various non-European pro cyclists have called Girona home, as illustrated in the book Inside the Postal Bus by Michael Barry, written during his time with the US Postal Service cycling team. Between races, cyclists do their training rides outside the city, which provides excellent training terrain.

In the Spring of 1997 Marty Jemison, Tyler Hamilton and George Hincapie moved to Girona as teammates of the US Postal Service Professional Cycling Team. This was the first year that American cyclists started living in Girona and meeting for training rides at the Pont de Pedra. Later, other well-known professional cyclists such as Lance Armstrong came to live in the city.

Football is also widely popular. The local Football club is Girona FC, currently playing in the Spanish Segunda División after promotion in the 2007-08 season in the playoffs. Its stadium is Estadi Montilivi.

Education

The city is the home of the Universitat de Girona.

Transport

Road

The town is on the Autopista AP-7 and N-II. The city is also the hub of the local road network with routes to the coast and inland towards the Pyrenees.

Public Transport

The city has a comprehensive local bus service. There are also services to the other towns in the Girona province.

Train

Girona is served by the mainline from Barcelona to Portbou and the French Frontier. The journey time to Barcelona is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. A station on the new AVE Madrid-Barcelona-Avignon high-speed rail line is currently being built (2009).

Airport

Main article: Girona-Costa Brava Airport

The town's airport, Girona-Costa Brava, is 10 km south of the town centre. It has grown tremendously in recent years principally as a result of Ryanair choosing it as one of their European hubs. Whilst the airport has been used since the early 1980s for charter flights, holidaymakers and other travellers now have a wider range of scheduled flights available from a number of destinations across Europe.

Girona Airport is a 15 minute bus ride from the bus teminal and train station in Girona city and an hour from Barcelona centre, 92 km to the south. Most low cost airlines mention "Barcelona" in their descriptions of Girona airport. The bus stops in the centre of Barcelona, at the Estacio d'Autobusos Barcelona Nord, Barcelona's main bus terminal.

Notable people

The ski mountaineering siblings Cristina and Jordi Bes Ginesta were born in Girona.

Town twinning

• Reggio Emilia, Italy, since 1982
• Albi, France, since 1985
• Bluefields, Nicaragua, since 1987
• Perpignan, France, since 1988
• Farsia, Western Sahara, since 1997
• Nueva Gerona, Cuba (under negotiation since 1991)
• Nashville, USA (currently pending agreement - negotiation started in 2006)

See also

• Prince of Girona
• La Girona
• Girona's Cathedral
• List of mayors of Girona

References

Sources and external links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Girona

• City Council of Girona
• History of the coat-of-arms of Girona
• Universitat de Girona
• Girona Airport website
• Girona Map

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