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Ciudad Real (, ; en, "Royal City") is a municipality of
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
located in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha, capital of the
province of Ciudad Real The province of Ciudad Real () is a province in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. It is partly located i ...
. It is the 5th most populated municipality in the region.


History

It was founded with the name ''Villa Real'' ("Royal Town") under the auspice of
Alfonso X Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...
, who granted it a charter that followed the model of Cuenca's. Located within the dominion of the Military Order of Calatrava, the repopulation struggled initially. Weary of the influence of Villa Real, an independent town directly dependent on the crown embedded within the territory dominated the
Order of Calatrava The Order of Calatrava ( es, Orden de Calatrava, pt, Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Orde ...
, the masters of the Order established a rival market in nearby Miguelturra seeking to disrupt the town's economic activity. During the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, four kilometres of walls and one hundred and thirty towers protected a population made up of
Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...
,
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
and
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. Villa Real hosted the Cortes of Castile in 1346.
Juan II of Castile John II of Castile ( es, link=no, Juan; 6 March 1405 – 20 July 1454) was King of Castile, King of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingdom of León, León from 1406 to 1454. He succeeded his older sister, Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon, as ...
granted ''Villa Real'' the status of city in 1420, thus becoming ''Ciudad Real'' ("Royal City"). The city most probably did not have more than 2000 inhabitants by the time and despite having celebrated Cortes once, the dominant city in the area was still Almagro. After the unification of the Iberian kingdoms under the
Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...
, Ciudad Real became the capital of the in 1691. This fact favoured its economic development which was shown by the construction of several important buildings. The
1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...
destroyed many of these buildings. In 1809, during the
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...
, French troops defeated the Spanish army and occupied the town, using the local hospital as their headquarters and barracks. Following the creation of the
province of Ciudad Real The province of Ciudad Real () is a province in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. It is partly located i ...
as per the 1833 territorial division, the status of provincial capital of Ciudad Real was challenged by the cities of Almagro and Manzanares, with a similar population by the mid-nineteenth century. However the initiatives intending to take the provincial capital out of Ciudad Real did not succeed. Much of the centre was destroyed during the
Spanish civil war The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
.


Geography


Location

Ciudad Real is located in the southern half of the Inner Plateau, in the central part of the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
, at about 625
metres above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The c ...
. The city is part of the
Campo de Calatrava Campo de Calatrava is a comarca in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. It takes its name from the Order of Calatrava, a military order which held territory in the area from the time when it was on the border between Christian and Muslim Spain. A '' Deno ...
natural region, a transitional region between the ''Montes'' and
La Mancha La Mancha () is a natural and historical region located in the Spanish provinces of Albacete, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, and Toledo. La Mancha is an arid but fertile plateau (610 m or 2000 ft) that stretches from the mountains of Toledo to th ...
, remarkable in the context of the Iberian Peninsula because of its volcanic origin. The plaza del Pilar is precisely built on the centre of a shallow volcanic
maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallo ...
. As Ciudad Real itself was the capital of the province of La Mancha in the 18th century, the whole
province of Ciudad Real The province of Ciudad Real () is a province in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. It is partly located i ...
is often considered as part of La Mancha in a wider sense. The location of Ciudad Real—without any major water stream passing through the city—leaves the
Guadiana The Guadiana River (, also , , ), or Odiana, is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border, separating Extremadura and Andalusia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal). The river's basin extends from the e ...
to the North and the (a left-bank tributary of the former) to the South. The urban nucleus was founded 7.5 km to the North-East of (a fortified archeological site located on a hill). Despite enjoying a location at the crossroads of the
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
and the Levante
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
corridors, the city did not particularly prosper historically thanks to this circumstance. The city currently forms a near urban continuum with neighbouring Miguelturra.


Climate

The city has a
hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
( Köppen: ''Csa''), bordering on
semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...
(''BSk''), with cool winters (due to its altitude) and very hot dry summers. The precipitation in the Campo de Calatrava is sparse, with a high year-to-year variability and the area features high levels of
evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transp ...
, particularly in Summer.


Sports

The city previously had a handball team, the
BM Ciudad Real Balonmano Ciudad Real was a Spanish handball team based in Ciudad Real, Castilla La Mancha. BM Ciudad Real plays in Liga ASOBAL. History In July 1983 is founded in the city of Ciudad Real a handball club named Asociación Deportiva Cultural Case ...
, which was the winner of the handball
EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men ...
in 2006, 2008 and 2009. The handball club was one of the best in the world and its home arena, the Don Quixote Arena, was one of the biggest in the Spanish professional league. BM Ciudad Real, however, moved its team to Madrid in 2011; renamed as "Atlético Madrid", it dissolved in 2013.


Transport

The city has a railway station on the
AVE ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...
high-speed rail line, the Ciudad Real railway station. A high-capacity airport (
Ciudad Real Central Airport Ciudad Real International Airport or CRIA , previously known as ''Central Airport CR'', ''Don Quijote Airport'' and ''South Madrid Airport'', is an international airport and long-storage facility, situated south of Ciudad Real in Spain. Constr ...
) was built in the city, but closed in 2012. The privately funded airport cost an estimated €1 billion to build, and is now for sale for €100 million plus payment of the developer's debt. Although in July 2014 this was reduced to €80 million in a further attempt to find a buyer. In July 2015 the airport was auctioned resulting in only one bidder, Chinese company Tzaneen International offering €10,000. The airport was reopened on 12 September 2019. The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Ciudad Real, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 33 min. 3% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 8 min, while 1% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 2 km, while 0% travel for over 12 km in a single direction. Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License


Main sights

The Plaza Mayor sits in the centre of Ciudad Real. Today, only two parts of the wall that surrounded the city in medieval times remain standing: The Toledo Gate. Don Quixote's Museum is situated next to Parque de Gasset. The Museo Elisa Cendreros exhibits an old collection of fans and carved wood. The Ermita de Alarcos is the oldest church in Ciudad Real. The Iglesia of Santiago is also the most beautiful and oldest church in Ciudad Real, it was built at the end of the 13th century in romanic style. Its style is
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
. It is decorated with gothic paintings and with seven-headed dragons, the ceiling is decorated with stones forming eight pointed stars. Another important church in Ciudad Real is Iglesia de San Pedro (Church of
Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...
). It is the most interesting and typical monument of the city. It was built during the 14th and 15th centuries. Its style is
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
, and it houses the tomb of Chantre de Coca, confessor and
chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...
of the
Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...
.
Ciudad Real Cathedral The Holy Priory Church Cathedral Basilica of the Military Order of Our Lady Saint Mary of the Prado of Ciudad Real is located in Ciudad Real, Autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. Construction began in the 15th century in Gothic style, a ...
, built in the 16th century, has the second-largest
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...
in Spain and a magnificent
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting ...
."Catedral de Santa María del Prado"
Turismo de Castilla-La Mancha. Retrieved 31 August 2013.


Education

Ciudad Real has 24 primary schools and 6 secondary schools. The high school "Torreón del Alcázar" was founded in 1987. In the first years there were only vocational studies, thirty teachers and 350 students. Some years later the high school incorporated the compulsory secondary studies and A levels. At the moment there are 80 teachers and 1200 students. In the year 1995 the high school was offered the opportunity to become a bilingual school. In the year 2005 the first bilingual group arrived. See University of Castilla–La Mancha (UCLM), Campus of Ciudad Real.


Events

One of the most popular festivals in the city is ''La Pandorga'', which takes place July 30 and 31. On the last day of the month the festival honours its patroness, ''La Virgen del Prado''. The usual attire of the participants consists of jeans, a white shirt, and the traditional handkerchief.


People

* (born 1451), military captain who stood out during the
Granada War The Granada War ( es, Guerra de Granada) was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1491 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It e ...
. * Manuel Cáceres Artesero (born 1949), known as "Manolo el del bombo", the most famous
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
fan in the world. *
Manuel Marín Manuel Marín González (21 October 1949 – 4 December 2017) was a Spanish politician, former President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He was a long-time member of the European Commission, and acting president during the Santer Commiss ...
(1949–2017), president of the Congress of Deputies and acting president of the European Commission. * José María Barreda (born 1953), former President of Castile–La Mancha. * Fernando Luna (born 1958), professional
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...
player. *
Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a Spanish former footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals ...
(born 1954), former manager of Real Madrid Football Club. *
Javier Botet Javier Botet López (born 30 July 1977) is a Spanish actor. Often cast in creature actor, creature roles, he has portrayed Tristana Medeiros in the REC (franchise), ''REC'' franchise (2007–2012), the title character in ''Mama (2013 film), Mam ...
(born 1977), horror actor with
Marfan syndrome Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a multi-systemic genetic disorder that affects the connective tissue. Those with the condition tend to be tall and thin, with long arms, legs, fingers, and toes. They also typically have exceptionally flexible joints a ...
. *
Jordi El Niño Polla Ángel Muñoz García (; born 11 September 1994), better known as by his stage name Jordi "El Niño Polla" (''The Dick Boy''), often shortened to Jordi ENP, is a Spanish pornographic actor, producer and YouTuber who rose to prominence after wor ...
(born 1994), male pornographic actor.


See also

* Provincial Museum of Ciudad Real


References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * * {{Authority control *