Manresa

Province	Barcelona
Comarca	Bages
Population (2001)	67,269
Area	41.24 km²
Population density (2001)	1631 /km²
Elevation	238 m
Demonym	n/a
Mayor	n/a
Bages

Coordinates: 41°44′N, 1°50′E

Manresa is the capital of the Bages comarca (county), located in the geographic centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. Saint Ignatius of Loyola stopped to pray in the town on his way back from Montserrat in 1522. As such, the town is a place of pilgrimage for Catholics.

It is believed the comarcal name "Bages" comes from a corruption of the Latin "Bacchus" due to the extensive production of wine in the area. The wine was grown mainly in terraced vineyards, and many of these old terraces can be seen today. Wine ceased to be the main product of the area as a consequence of phylloxera, but is still a very important part of the Manresa/Bages economy.

During the Napoleonic invasion, the volunteer troops of Manresa (sometent in Catalan) defeated the French troops in the Bruch Pass (June 1808), but the retreating French burned and demolished much of the town. After the expulsion of Napoleon's troops, Manresans rebuilt the town using the rubble. This is the reason for the strange "jerry-built" look of the city.

Jewish history

The Santa Cova, where St. Ignatius stayed during his time in Manresa

In the 12th century Manresa was said to have contained 500 Jewish families, most of whom lived in a narrow lane called "Grau dels Jueus," near the town hall; their cemetery, still called "Fossana dels Jueus," was outside the city. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Jews there were engaged in manufacturing, trading (including slaves), money-lending (at the rate of 20 per cent, the usual interest at that time), and in the cultivation of their vineyards and estates.

The hostility of the Christians towards the Jews, which prevailed throughout Catalonia, was also manifested in Manresa. In 1325 the Christian inhabitants of the town tried to prevent the Jews from baking their Passover bread, so that the latter were obliged to appeal to the King for protection. The Jews in Manresa did not escape the general persecution of 1391, and many of them professed to accept Christianity.

After 1414 comparatively few Jews remained in the town, and in 1492 they sold their property for whatever they could get, and left the country. At the beginning of the 15th century Manresa had 30,000 inhabitants; three centuries later it contained barely one-fifth of that number. Several members of the Zabarra (Sabara) family lived in Manresa. The town is not mentioned in the "Shebeṭ Yehudah."

Features of Manresa

Three bridges cross the Cardener River. The 14th-century church of Santa Maria de la Seu stands on a rock above the oldest bridge. The municipal museum is housed in the cloisters of the 17th-century church of San Ignacio. Below this church is the cave in which St. Ignatius Loyola is said to have prayed and meditated.

Manresa also has a fine music conservatoire, and industry in the town covers textile-making, metallurgy, and glass manufacture.

Population history

Places borrowing the name

Because of the town's association with St. Ignatius, the novitiate house of the English province of the Jesuits is called Manresa House. Formerly in Roehampton in the London suburbs, it is now in Birmingham.

Reference

• Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona:Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 (Spanish). ISBN 84-87135-02-1 (Catalan).
• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Manresa

• Manresa Internet Television www.manresa.tv
• Official web site of l'Ajuntament de Manresa (in Catalan)
• Guide of the city of de Manresa (in Catalan)

Municipalities of Bages

Aguilar de Segarra · Artés · Avinyó · Balsareny · Calders · Callús · Cardona · Castellbell i el Vilar · Castellfollit del Boix · Castellgalí · Castellnou de Bages · L'Estany · Fonollosa · Gaià · Manresa · Marganell · Moià · Monistrol de Calders · Monistrol de Montserrat · Mura · Navarcles · Navàs · El Pont de Vilomara i Rocafort · Rajadell · Sallent · Sant Feliu Sasserra · Sant Fruitós de Bages · Sant Joan de Vilatorrada · Sant Mateu de Bages · Sant Salvador de Guardiola · Sant Vicenç de Castellet · Santa Maria d'Oló · Santpedor · Súria · Talamanca

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