42°08N 0°25W. City of N Spain, in Aragón, capital of the province and administrative area of the same name; situated between the cattle-raising mountains (N) and the agricultural plain (S); on a small elevation to the right of the Isuela; traditionally an important agricultural and cattle market; urban activities include commerce, industry (food, machinery), administration; San Pedro, Gothic cathedral, town hall, churches of San Lorenzo and Santo Domingo.
Huesca (Aragonese: Uesca; Huesca is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name.
History
Its pre-Roman Iberian name was Bolskan, the capital of the Ilergetes, in the north of Hispania Tarraconensis, on the road from Tarraco (modern Tarragona) and Ilerda (modern Lleida) to Caesaraugusta (modern Zaragoza) (Itin. Under the impetus of Quintus Sertorius, the renegade Roman and Iberian hero who made Osca his base, the city minted its own coinage and was the site of a prestigious school founded by Sertorius to educate young Iberians in Latin and Romanitas in general. "Euskara", Basque for the Basque language.)
The fully Romanized city, with its forum in the Cathedral square was made a municipium by decree of Augustus in 30 BCE.
Modern Huesca
Huesca celebrates its main annual festival in San Lorenzo (Laurence)— a native of Huesca martyred in Rome, 268 AD— which falls on August 10. San Lorenzo, born in Huesca, was bishop of Roma and martyrized by Romans, burnt on a grill, so the grill is the symbol of this saint, and appears in many artistic expressions of the city.
It is also the birthplace of film director Carlos Saura and his brother Antonio Saura, contemporary artist.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) the "Huesca Front" was the scene of some of the worst fighting between Republicans and the rebels.
Churches of Huesca
Huesca is filled with churches.
Cathedral (Catedral de la Transfiguración del Señor) in Gothic style begun by king Jaime I of Aragon around 1273 upon the ruined foundations of the mosque. Church of St. Peter (Iglesia de San Pedro el Viejo), erected between 1100-1241, is one of the oldest Romanesque structures in the Peninsula. Church of St. Lawrence (Iglesia de San Lorenzo), seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Iglesia de Santo Domingo, in Baroque style. Iglesia de la Compañía San Vicente, seventeenth century. Ermita de Ntr. de Salas-M.H.A.-, románico y barroco Ermita de Loreto -M.H.A.-, cuna de San Lorenzo según la tradición Ermita de San Jorge -s. XVI-, en recuerdo de la batalla de Alcoraz Ermita de las Mártires Ermita de Santa Lucía Ermita de Jara, in ruins San Miguel, Romanesque tower Santa María de Foris, románico de transición Santa Cruz, Seminary, on Romanesque foundations. About the present Huesca is a double line of ancient walls. The institute for secondary education occupies the building formerly devoted to the old university, and in one of its vaults is the famous "Bell of Huesca", said to have been constructed from the heads of insurgent nobles who were executed by King Ramiro II of Aragon.Coffee in Huesca
Huesca is notable for the saying "Tomorrow we'll have a coffee in Huesca", which was a running joke among militiamen of the Spanish Civil War. In February 1938, George Orwell was stationed near the falangist-held Huesca as a member of the POUM militia. In Homage to Catalonia, Orwell writes about this running joke phrase, originally a naïvely optimistic comment made by one of the Spanish Republican generals. Orwell writes:
The Indian writer Shashi Tharoor fulfilled Orwell's wish for him in 1980 and has written about the experience (www.shashitharoor.com).
Huesca is famous also because of the legend of the Bell of Huesca.
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