Lugo

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Lugo, Spain location.png Image:Escudolugo.gif Lugo is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Lugo in the autonomous community of Galicia in Spain.

The municipality had a population of 92,271 in 2005.

The city was founded by Paulus Fabius Maximus and called Lucus Augusti in 13 B.C. on the positioning of a Roman military camp, while the Roman Empire was conquering the North of the Iberian Peninsula. Though small it was the most important Roman town in what became Gallaecia during the Roman period. Lucus was the seat of a bishopric by the later 5th century at the latest and remained an administrative center under the Suebi and Visigoths, before going into such a decline that the site was found to be deserted in the middle of the eighth century by bishop Odoario, who set about reviving it. Tenth century attempts at rebuilding its casas destructas (abandoned tenements) suggest that it remained a town only on paper: the seat of a bishopric, administered by a count, from which royal charters were issued. "Its commercial and industrial role was insignificant", Richard Fletcher wrote of 11th century Lugo<ref>Richard A. Fletcher, 1984. Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford University Press) (on-line text, ch. 1)</ref>.

1 Situation and features
2 See also
3 Sources
- 3.1 Notes

[edit]

Situation and features

Located on a site above the Minho river and named after the Celtic god Lugus, it is the only city in Europe to be surrounded by completely intact Roman walls, which reach a height of 10 to 15 metres along a 2'5 km circuit ringed with 71 towers. These 3rd century walls are protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Other sources suggest that the name Lucus Augusti comes from the latin word Lucus, which means "sacred grove", or "sacred forest", as the city was founded on the place of a small grove.

Besides the walls, sights include the cathedral, built between the XIIth and the XVIIIth centuries, and the Museo Provincial, which shows a display of Galician art and other building of the century XVIII and the Palace of the arts (Circulo de las Artes) and the Spain Square a tipical place when you can enjoy of a rich coffee.

[edit]