Arnedo is the third largest town in

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

, Spain. It is located near

Calahorra Calahorra (; ; ) is a municipality in the Spanish autonomous community and province of La Rioja. During Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris Nassica Iulia''. Location The city is located on a hill at an altitude ...

, and has a population of about 15,000 people. Its economy is based on the

shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...

industry.

History

The area of Arnedo has been inhabited as early as the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

. In pre-Roman times it was known as Sadacia or Sidacia, while the current name derives from the Latin ''Arenetum'' ("Place of sand"); the Romans, who arrived here in the 2nd century BC replacing the

Celtiberians The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo) ...

, built here a fortification to defend the hill, which commanded an important communication hub. Of the Visigothic Age are remains of a 6th-century

cave-church A cave monastery is a monastery built in caves, with possible outside facilities. The 3rd-century monk St. Anthony the Great, known as the founder of Christian monasticism, lived in a cave. *Albania ** Qafthanë Cave Church, cave church near U ...

. The

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

conquered Arnedo in the 8th century AD and made it the capital of one of the 26 provinces in which they divided Iberia. The town was conquered by the Christian king Sancho I of Pamplona in 908-909. On 5 January, 1932, there was a clash between the

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

and a group of striking workers. The police fired into the crowd killing 11 people and wounding another 30.

Main sights

* Ruins of the castle * Church of St. Thomas * Church of St. Cosmas and Damian, housing a Baroque high altar * Church of St. Eulalia * Monastery of ''Nuestra Señora de Vico'', situated some 4 km outside the city * Gate of ''Nuestra Señora de la Nieves'' * Museum of Shoes

Politics

Notable people

Musa ibn Musa al-Qasawi Musa ibn Musa al-Qasawi () also nicknamed the Great (); died 26 September 862) was leader of the Muwallad Banu Qasi clan and ruler of a semi-autonomous principality in the upper Ebro valley in northern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia in the 9th century. ...

* Leopoldo Alas Mínguez * Jesús Ángel Solana

Twin towns

* Andosilla, Spain * Parthenay, France *

Elda Elda (; , ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Alicante, Spain. , it has a total population of 55,618 inhabitants, ranking as the 7th most populous city in the province. Elda joins together with the town of Petrer to form a ...

, Spain *

Farsia Farsia (, ), is an isolated village in Western Sahara, situated within the Moroccan-occupied territories. It was occupied by the Moroccan military on October 31, 1975, after Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ...

, Western Sahara

References