|
|
 |
| |
|
Home > Travel Spain > Spain Destinations > Alcala de Henares
Alcala de Henares
Spain, also known as Kingdom of Spain, is one of the oldest inhabited regions on the planet. It is a country which is located in Southern Europe, and politically organized as a parliamentary monarchy. It is the largest sovereign nation of the three nations that make up the Iberian Peninsula. Administratively, Spain is divided into 50 provinces, grouped into 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities with a high degree of autonomy. The name Spain comes from the Latin name Hispania whose capital is Madrid which is also the largest city of the Country.
Alcala de Henares is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Alcala is located in the autonomous community of Madrid, 30 kilometers northeast of the city of Madrid, it has a population of around 200,000, second largest of the region after the Spanish capital itself. The city is generally known simply as Alcala, but de Henares is often appended to differentiate other dozen of cities called also Alcala around Spain.
The city boundaries were inhabited since the Calcolitic. Pre-Roman Celtiberian tribes populated the hills nearby, but it was the conquering Romans who in one. Thus, it became the only Roman town in the Madrid region its Latin name being Complutum. With 10,000 inhabitants, it reached the status of Municipium and had its own governing institutions. After the falling apart of the Roman Empire, under the Visigoths, it declined, although it also became a pilgrimage place for the Saints Justo and Pastor.
At an altitude of 654 meters, on the southern part of the Meseta Central and occupying some 88 square kilometers and the city was for a long time encapsuled between the hills and the River Henares to the south and east by the railway Madrid-Barcelona on the north and west. However, the expanding population has forced two new residencial areas to be created between the railway and the motorway and beyond the latter. The historical centre lies still roughly in the middle of the urban area. It is characterised by lower, Spanish Golden Age buildings, of which the most lavish belong to the University. This gained for the city's the title of World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1998.
Back to Spain Destinations
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|