Castellon de la Plana is a city in Spain. Automatically included in the Valencia community. The administrative center of the province of Castellon. The population is just over 72,000 inhabitants. The distance from the center of the autonomous community, the city of Valencia, is 72 kilometers.
Geographic location
Located on the eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean coast. Located in a lowland, 30 meters above sea level, surrounded by a low mountain range. It is a good barrier to cold air flows coming from central Spain.
The territory where Castellon de la Plana is located has a mild and humid climate of the Mediterranean Sea. The average annual temperature is about 18 degrees Celsius. Almost 450 millimeters of precipitation falls annually. There are many sunny days in the year, more than three hundred.
Initially, the city of Castellon de la Plana was located off the coast at a distance of about 4 kilometers. However, new areas have already been erected near the sea itself. The city is located on the Costa del Azahar, which means “coast of oranges”. Castellon's beaches stretch for one hundred and twenty kilometers. Castellon de la Plana in terms of infrastructure does not reach the neighboring province of Catalonia. However, the beach area is accessible and not crowded.
General information about Castellon
The Spaniards consider Castellon de la Plana a relatively young city. Until the mid-13th century, its future inhabitants inhabited the nearby mountain slopes and Magdalena Hill. In 1252, the ruler Jaime the First of Aragon allowed them to resettle from a higher ground to a lower section, closer to the sea. This date is celebrated daily by the inhabitants of the city as a holiday of Magdalena. In 2010, he was awarded the status of international importance for Spain.
Reviews
Tourists visiting Castellon de la Plana leave reviews about it as a city in which history and modern reality are harmoniously intertwined.
In the central city part, ancient buildings have remained, rallied around urban squares.
There are a number of notable structures of the early 20th century, built in the Art Nouveau style. More recently, several ultra-modern buildings have been erected in Castellon de la Plana. They impress tourists with their unusual appearance, as well as advanced “fillings” made using the so-called green technologies.
Historical perspective
Archaeological excavations in the region of Castellon de la Plana (Spain) prove that people have lived in these places since very ancient times. The remains of the life of the Neolithic people, as well as ancient Roman buildings and structures of the Iberians, were discovered here. The main industries living here were agriculture and fishing. During the stay of these territories under the Moors, no changes in the way of life of people took place.
Under the Spanish crown, these lands, where the city of Castellon de la Plana is currently located, entered in 1233, during the campaigns of King Aragon Jaime the First. After 20 years, in 1252, it became a city of the 2nd category (villa). The main occupation of the inhabitants of these places remained agriculture, seafood production and fishing.
Significant for the inhabitants of Castellon de la Plana was 1366. Then a peasant named Perot, plowing the ground, found a small figurine of Our Lady - Virgin Lledo. Representatives of the church announced the fact of its discovery, the appearance of a divine miracle and erected a chapel (sanctuary), named in her honor, at the place of acquisition.
During the war with France, with Napoleon, the city of Castellon de la Plana was captured by units of General Suche in 1811. The French settled here until 1814.
A few years later became the main city of the province of the same name.
The Queen of Spain, Maria Cristina, in 1843 paid tribute to the townspeople who resisted the forces of her rival Carl, claiming the royal throne, assigning Castellon de la Plana the status of a city of the 1st category (Ciudad).
City development
However, the new status did not lead to development. He remained a provincial town. Only at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century did acceleration begin. The province owes its rather rapid growth to the cultivation of oranges and the production of ceramic tiles. To ensure the shipment of these goods in the port of the city, new berths were erected. The population began to grow rapidly.
Second Republic, Franco reign
During the Second Republic, Castellon de la Plana became one of the strongholds of the Republicans. In the summer of 1931, the main city temple (Santa Maria Church) was recognized as a monument of national importance. But five years later, in the autumn of 1936, the municipal authorities destroyed the Gothic church, explaining their deeds by the need to give the city center a modern look.
Units of the Franco army captured Castellon de la Plana in the summer of 1938. The established new regime has decided to recreate the destroyed temple. Work began in the mid-forties of the last century, but for a long time it was not completed. The final restoration of the destroyed buildings was completed in 2009. This temple acquired the status of a concathedral (bishop's chair).
Options for visiting
It is currently impossible to get to the city by plane. Despite the fact that in 2011, Castellon de la Plana Airport was erected near the city, he never began to receive airplanes. The nearest airports are in Valencia (about an hour's journey), Reus (two hours). You can also get to the city from the airports of Barcelona, Atlético, Madrid.
Intercity via buses allows you to get to Castellon de la Plana from almost all in the big cities of Spain. The city has a modern bus station. But intercity buses depart from other places, mainly from the central squares.
The city of Castellon de la Plana has its own train station. The station is located on the 69th kilometer of the Valencia-Tarragona railway. This transport artery is called the Mediterranean Corridor. The station receives long-distance trains from Madrid, Barcelona. As well as commuter trains from Valencia.
Those wishing to come to Castellon de la Plana by car can use two roads that are laid along the Mediterranean coast. This is freeway No. 340, as well as the AR-7 toll motorway.
Castellon de la Plana, Spain: attractions
The main holiday and an important date in the city is the Magdalena Fair and Celebration, which, as mentioned above, is celebrated in honor of the residents coming to the plain. The feast of the Virgin of Lledo, the heavenly patroness of the city, is also very beautifully celebrated. It is celebrated on the first weekend of May.
The main monuments, sights of Castellon de la Plana are:
- Concatedral Santa Maria is an active temple that dates back to the late 13th century. The construction of a new building instead of the burned one was started in 1940 (architect - Vicente Traver Thomas). The construction was completed in 2009. In 1960, the church (still unfinished) was assigned cathedral status.
- The chapel of St. Mary Magdalene was erected in a rock above the destroyed underground prison of Fadrel Castle.
- The Basilica of Our Lady of Lledo was built in its current form in 1768 on the spot where its predecessors previously stood. In 1953, this temple was awarded by order of Pope John Paul II the official title of the Small Basilica.
- Bishop's Palace, its construction began in 1793. This is a kind of classic style building.
- El Fadri Tower. It began to be built in 1440. The first floor was erected after 17 years. After that, further construction of the tower was stopped for more than a century. Finally built in 1593. This is an octagonal tower about 60 meters high, four-piece.
- City Hall. The construction of this palace building began in 1887, completed in 1916. The local city hall immediately moved there.
- Hemp exchange, built this building in the first half of the 17th century, the architect was Francis Helios.
- Mail building. Construction began in 1917. The construction was designed by Demetrio Ribes in the Art Nouveau style. In the decor, he innovatively applied stained glass with ceramics.
- Old casino. Built in 1922. The original building is also built in a modernist style. A distinctive feature of it is that it has uneven towers from the side of the facade.