Burgos è un comune spagnolo di 166.187 abitanti situato nella comunità autonoma di Castiglia e Leon.


Storia


Esistono, all'interno delle mura dell'attuale castello che domina la città, prove di un insediamento umano già dal neolitico (4500 a.C.) e nella prima età del ferro (850 a.C.).

Senza dubbio, la città di Burgos è stata fondata come tale da un conte castigliano, tal Diego Rodriguez "Porcelos" nell'884. Alfonso III, nel tentativo di frenare l'avanzata saracena, ordinò al conte di fondare un borgo cintato di mura sulla sponda dell'Arlanzon: l'origine della città è, pertanto, militare.

Burgos, popolata per mandato reale e sottomessa direttamente all'autorità dei re di Leon fino al 930, si trasformò in capitale del contado di Castiglia quando questi ottenne l'indipendenza dal regno di León con l'aiuto di Fernan Gonzalez.


Monumenti


Tra i suoi monumenti si distingue la cattedrale, massimo esempio dell'architettura gotica. Altri monumenti e luoghi degni di interesse sono:

- la certosa gotica di Miraflores.
- la chiesa gotica di san Nicola di Bari, con un'imponente pala d'altare in marmo.
- il monastero di las Huelgas Reales, pantheon dei re di Castiglia.
- le chiese gotiche di san Lesmes, santo Stefano, san Gil e altre.
- l'ospedale reale.
- le mura medievali.
- i resti del castello.
- l'arco di santa Maria.


Feste locali


Il 29 giugno iniziano las fiestas de San Pedro y San Pablo (Le feste di San Pietro e San Paolo), la cui durata oscilla da 7 a 10 giorni e, durante le quali, la città si trasforma e si veste di una moltitudine di colori carichi di tradizioni. Oggigiorno, la festa conta di un vario programma di attività, stabilito per ciascuno dei 7 giorni di festa e indirizzato a tutte le fasce di età.

Tra gli spettacoli più rilevanti:
- Proclamazione delle regine nel giorno di inizio della festa
- Omaggi floreali alla patrona della città, Santa María la Mayor
- Balli e danze di simpatici pupazzi giganteschi (gigantillos, gigantones) nelle strade della città

Tra le attività più caratteristiche:
- Concorso di fuochi artificiali
- Concerti di svariati artisti, noti sia a livello nazionale che internazionale
- Feria taurina

Burgos is a city of northern Spain, at the edge of the central plateau, with about 173,600 inhabitants in the city proper and another 10,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos. The Burgos Laws or Leyes de Burgos were promulgated there in 1512.


History


When the Romans took possession of what is now the province of Burgos the site had been a Celtiberian city. In Roman times it belonged to Hispania Citerior ("Hither Spain") and then to Hispania Tarraconensis. In the fifth century the Visigoths drove back the Suevi, then the Arabs occupied all of Castile in the eighth century, though only for a brief period, and left no trace of their occupation. Alfonso III the Great, king of León reconquered it about the middle of the ninth century, and built many castles for the defence of Christendom, which was then extended through the reconquest of lost territory. The region came to be known as Castile (Latin castella), i.e. "land of castles".

Burgos was founded in the 880s as an outpost of this expanding Christian frontier,[1] when Diego Rodríguez "Porcelos", count of Castile, governed this territory with orders to promote the increase of the Christian population; with this end in view he gathered the inhabitants of the surrounding country into one fortified village, whose Visigothic name of Burgos signified consolidated walled villages (Gothic baurgs).[2] The city began to be called Caput Castellae ("Cabeza de Castilla" or "Head of Castille"). The county (condado) of Burgos, subject to the Kings of Leon, continued to be governed by counts and was gradually extended; Fernán González, the greatest of these, established his independence.[3]

The city was the see of a Catholic bishop from the tenth century and in the eleventh century became the capital of the Kingdom of Castile. Burgos was a major stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela[4] and a centre of trade between the Bay of Biscay and the south, which attracted an unusually large foreign merchant population, who became part of the city oligarchy and excluded other foreigners.[5] Throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Burgos was a favourite seat of the kings of León and Castile and a favoured burial site. The consejo or urban commune of Burgos was firmly in the hands of an oligarchic class of caballeros villanos, the "non-noble knights" of Burgos, who provided the monarchs with a mounted contingent: in 1255 and 1266 royal charters granted to those citizens of Burgos who owned horses and could arm themselves relief from taxes, provided that they continue to live within the city walls[6] The merchant oligarchy succeeded the cathedral chapter as the major purchasers of land after 1250; they carried on their mercantile business in common with municipal or royal functions and sent their sons to England and Flanders to gain experience in overseas trade. A few families within the hermandades or confraternities like the Sarracín and Bonifaz succeeded in monopolising the post of alcalde, or mayor; a special court, the alcalde del rey was first mentioned at Burgos in 1281[7] By the reign of Alfonso X the exemption of the non-noble knights and religious corporations, combined with exorbitant gifts and grants to monasteries and private individuals, placed great stress on the economic well-being of the realm.

In the century following the conquest of Seville (1248), Burgos became a testing-ground for royal policies of increasing power against the consejo, in part by encouraging the right to appeal from the consejo to the king. In 1285 Sancho IV added a new body to the consejo which came to dominate it: the jurado in charge of collecting taxes and overseeing public works; the king reserved the right to select its members. The city perceived that danger to its autonomy came rasther from an uncontrolled aristocracy during royal minorities: Burgos joined the hermandades of cities that leagued together for mutual protection in 1295 and 1315. In the fourteenth century official royal intrusion in city affairs was perceived as a palliative against outbreaks of violence by the large excluded class of smaller merchants and artisans, on whom the tax burden fell. The alguacil was the royal official instituted to judge disagreements.

On 9 June 1345, sweeping aside the city government, Alfonso XI established direct royal rule of Burgos through the Regimiento of sixteen appointed men

In 1574 Pope Gregory XIII made its bishop an archbishop, at the request of king Philip II.

Burgos has been the scene of many wars: with the Moors, the struggles between León and Navarre, and between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France, Burgos was the scene of a battle, and again in the 19th century Carlist civil wars of the Spanish succession. During the Spanish Civil War Burgos was the base of Gen. Franco's rebel Nationalist government.


Sights


Burgos still possesses more ecclesiastical monuments than any other Spanish city, even Toledo. The three most outstanding are the cathedral, with its chapel of the Condestables de Castilla, the monastery of Las Huelgas and the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores. In addition to the collegiate churches of Lerma, Villadiego, Plampiega, Palenzuela, Covarrubias and others, there are in Burgos alone many magnificent buildings. The cathedral treasury, the monastery of Las Huelgas and the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores, are museums of permanent value.

Minor notable churches are: San Esteban, San Gil (Sancti Aegidii), San Pedro, San Cosme y San Damian, Santiago (Sancti Jacobi), San Lorenzo and San Lesmes (Adelelmi). The Convento de la Merced, occupied by the Jesuits, and the Hospital del Rey are also worthy of mention. In the walls of the city are the famous gateway of Santa María, erected for the first entrance of the Emperor Charles V, and the arch of Fernán González.

The diocese has two fine ecclesiastical seminaries. There are also many institutions for secular education. Schools are maintained in every diocese, the Instituto Provincial, and many colleges are conducted by private individuals, religious orders and nuns both cloistered and uncloistered.


Burgos cathedral


The Gothic Cathedral at Burgos, begun in 1221, displays features of the 13th to 15th centuries. The west front is flanked by towers terminating in octagonal spires covered with open stonework traceries. The façade, in three stories, has triple entrances in ogival arched framing, with a gallery enclosed by a pinnacled balustrade and a delicately-pierced rose window. In the uppermost story there are two ogival double-arched windows and statues on pedestals, crowned with a balustrade of letters carved in stone: PULCHRA ES ET DECORA ("Beautiful art Thou, and graceful"), in the center of which is a statue of the Virgin. There are more balustrades and balconies in the towers, with further open-carved inscriptions: needle-pointed octagonal pinnacles finish the four corners.

The north portal, known as the Portada de la Coronería has statues of the Twelve Apostles. Above, ogival windows and two spires crown the portal. .

The magnificent octagonal Chapel of the Condestable is of flamboyant Gothic, filled with traceries, knights and angels and heraldry.

Burgos Cathedral is the burial place of the 11th-century warrior Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid, who was born in a little town near the city, now called Vivar del Cid.

Among the most famous of the bishops of Burgos is the 15th-century scholar and historian Alphonsus a Sancta Maria.

As an architectural monument this structure displays the best features of the art of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was commenced by Bishop Mauritius in 1221, in the reign of Ferdinand III and Beatrice of Swabia, and is Gothic in style. the principal façade, Santa María la Mayor, faces west, and on either side rise two towers about 262 feet in height, terminating in octagonal spires covered with open stonework traceries. The façade is composed of three stories, or sections. The first, or ground story has three ogival entrances with rectangular openings; the second has a gallery enclosed by a pinnacled balustrade and a rose window as delicately carved as a piece of lace, which admits some light into the church. In the upper-most story there are two double-arched windows of ogival style, with eight intercolumnar spaces, in each of which there is a statue on a pedestal. The whole is finished with a balustrade of letters carved in stone and forming the inscription: Pulchra es et decora (Thou art beautiful and graceful), in the centre of which is a statue of the Blessed Virgin. In the lateral sections (the towers) the windows are enclosed by stone balustrades, and the top is surmounted by balconies of stone surrounded by balustrades formed of Gothic letters in various inscriptions; needle-pointed pinnacles finish the four corners. The spires, as already said, are octagonal in shape; a gallery runs around the eight sides near the top, upon which rest the graceful points of the conical finial.

The north portal is known as the portada de la Coronería. In the lower portion of this are statues of the Twelve Apostles, the windows in the central section being of the primitive ogival style, and in the upper story there are three double-arched windows with statues joined to the shafts of the columns; two small spires, conical in shape like the main ones and decorated with balustrades, rise on either side of this façade. From the portal of the Coronería one can descend to that of the Pellerjería, which faces east and is of the Renaissance style known as the Plateresque. It is divided into three sections, the two end ones being alike, with the centre different in style and dimensions. The former are composed of pilasters minutely carved, between which four statues are placed. The middle section, which serves for an entrance, has three alabaster pilasters, the intercolumnar spaces bearing panel-pictures representing the martyrdom of saints. The façade as a whole gives the impression of a gorgeous picture, and the ornate and fantastic devices sculptured all over its magnificent surface are simply innumerable.

The octagonal chapel of the Condestable, of florid Gothic and very pure in design, is the best of the many chapels of the cathedral. Its roof if finished with balustraded turrets, needle-pointed pinnacles, statues, and countless other sculptural devices. In the lower portion coats of arms, shields, and crouching lions have been worked into the ensemble. The exterior of the sacristy is decorated with carved traceries, figures of angels and armoured knights. The tabernacle is of extraordinary magnificence and is composed of two octagonal sections in Corinthian style.