Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of

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. Located in the north of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed between the Iberian kingdoms of Castille, Navarre and

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

during the Middle Ages. The population of the city in 2021 was 150,808 while the metropolitan area included nearly 200,000 inhabitants. The city is a centre of trade of Rioja wine, for which the area is noted, and manufacturing of wood, metal and textile products.

Etymology

Origin of the name

The origin of this toponym is, as for many other places, unknown. The name ''Lucronio'' was first used in a document from 965 where García Sánchez I of Pamplona donated the place so named to the Monastery of San Millán. In the Fuero of Logroño from 1095 it appeared under the name ''Logronio'', except once when it was called ''illo Gronio''. The most broadly accepted theses seem to be those which indicate it is a late latinization by prefixing the article "''lo/illo''" to the old toponym ''Gronio''/''Gronno'', a word of Celtic origin which means ''the ford'' or ''the pass''. It is believed that this name was due to the frequent use of this place to cross the Ebro river. Other historians have proposed alternative theories, such as a possible derivation from ''Lucus Brun'' or ''Lucus Beronius'' ("Sacred place in the Beronian forest"), but its etymology remains unknown.

Titles

John II of Castile granted it the title of "City" on 7 February 1431 in Palencia and ratified it on 20 February in

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

, thus it stopped being called "Village", despite there being no explicit justification of the reasons for that change. 20 July 1444 the same king added the titles of "Very noble", , and "Very loyal", , which up until today appear in the seal of the city. In this case, the reason was the loyalty of the habitants against the homonymous king John II of Aragon, because despite the ''«long war, and wounds and deaths, and robberies, and fires, and damages and oppressions»'', the city remained loyal to the service of the king of Castile. On 5 July 1523, the king Francis I granted it the three fleurs-de-lis for the shield of the city for its resistance during the French siege in 1521. It also received by Royal Decree the title of "Excellence" 6 December 1854 from Isabella II, as a reward for its behavior during the

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic which devastated the city.

Geography

Logroño is located in the northern region of

, on the river

Ebro The Ebro (Spanish and Basque ; , , ) is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows , almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a de ...

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. The Camino de Santiago passes through the city. The geographical coordinates of the city are: 42° 27′ N, 2° 29′ W. The city lies from

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, from

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

, from

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and from

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

History

Logroño was an old settlement, first of the Romans, under the name of Vareia, a commercial port that was founded near an older city of the Berones. From the 10th century, possession of Logroño was disputed between the kings of Navarre and those of Castile; the region was finally annexed to Castile. The name is a combination of le and Groin, mashed together as Logroño over time. Alfonso VI of Castile granted Logroño in 1095 a charter of rights that served as a model for other Spanish cities. In 1609 and 1610 Logroño was the main seat of the Basque witch trials, part of the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...

. Famous people from Logroño include Manuel Bretón de los Herreros, Fausto Elhúyar, Práxedes Mateo Sagasta,

Rafael Azcona Rafael Azcona Fernández (24 October 1926 – 24 March 2008) was a Spanish screenwriter and novelist who worked with some of the best Spanish and international filmmakers. Azcona won five Goya Awards during his career, including a lifetim ...

, Ramón Castroviejo, Pedro J. Ramírez, Navarrete "El Mudo".

Demographics

Population centres

* Logroño * El Cortijo * Varea

Politics

Economy

Logroño is the shopping and financial capital of

. Its economy is heavily reliant on

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

, the most popular of which is Rioja D.O. Logroño is twinned with

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

, Libourne, Dax, Rancagua, Ciudad de La Rioja,

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, El Hagounia. The airport Logroño-Agoncillo connects the city with Madrid.

Food

There are over 50 ''taperías'' (tapas restaurants) located within a four-block area near the town center. The traditional tapas restaurants often serve only one tapa

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

– meaning one serving, or ''media ración'' ("half portion"), a small plate of tapas, but offer the Rioja D.O.

Climate

The weather in Logroño – mostly due to its peculiar location, both in terms of distance to the Atlantic coast and in the situation along the course of the Ebro river, is characterized by values ranging from those typically found in temperate oceanic climates to the warmer and drier ones observed in southeastern

mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

regions of the river's valley. However, the weather station has a cold semi-arid climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''BSk'') with

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

influences. The average annual temperature is . Although infrequent, unusually low temperatures during the winter can drop to or even lower, while daily high averages may exceptionally exceed the mark of in a particularly hot summer. The average annual precipitation is about , regularly spread over the whole year: from in drier periods to the range in the rainiest. The winds that affect the city are as follows: the northerly Cierzo, the southerly Ábrego, the easterly Solano, and the westerly Castellano. Intermediate winds are the northeasterly Navarrico, the northwesterly Regañón, the southwesterly Burgalés and the southeasterly Soriano.

Places of interest

* Con- Catedral de Santa María de la Redonda * Iglesia (Church) de San Bartolomé * Iglesia de Santiago * Iglesia de Palacio * Museo de La Rioja * Parlamento de La Rioja, an old factory of the tabacalera, the national tobacco company. * Muralla del Revellín * Fuente (Fountain) de los Riojanos Ilustres, in which royal figures with a connection to either Logroño or La Rioja are represented in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

. Because the figures are placed looking towards the public and so large torrents of water pour down behind them, the fountain is commonly known as the one with "wet backs". Santamariadepalacio

* Bridge of Mantible, in the El Cortijo district. Constructed during the Roman era and declared Bien de Interés Cultural in the

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

category on January 25, 1983. * Theatre of Bretón de los Herreros

Recreation (plazas and parks)

*Paseo del Príncipe de Vergara (El Espolón): Located in the financial center of the capital and positioned in the center by the statue of General Espartero. *Plaza del Ayuntamiento: Located on the Avenue of Peace, the modern Town Hall of Logroño, designed by architect Rafael Moneo, is in a large plaza where in years past it has seen numerous public acts, festivals, expositions, concerts, and in the last few years, during Christmas, a life-size reconstruction of the nativity scene. *Parque del Carmen: Located near the bus station, this park has a variety of flora and fauna including several ducks and birds. *Plaza del Mercado: Located somewhere near Calle Portales, one of the most famous avenues of the city, at the foot of the Round Cathedral. This is where the nightly festivals of Logroño occur, near Calle Mayor (Marqués de San Nicolas Street). *Parque del Ebro: Located near the Ebro, an extensive park full of vegetation ideal for relaxing. Also has a bike path traversing through the park. *Parque de la Ribera: Next to Parque del Ebro, recently constructed. Here many gardens are found alongside the Plaza de Toros de la Ribera. Also: Riojaforum
Palacio de Congresos y Auditorio de La Rioja
*Parque de San Miguel Parquedelebro

Social life

Calle del Laurel, known as "the path of the elephants" and Calle San Juan are typical streets where various restaurants and tapas bars offer some of the best ''pinchos'' and ''tapas'' in northern Spain. Calle Portales is the main street in the old town, where people like to walk and sit in the terraces to eat a meal or drink wine. Calle Marqués de San Nicolás (otherwise known as Calle Mayor) is the main area where people spend weekend nights.

Broadcasting stations

Southwest of Logroño, at 42°26'34"N 2°30'43"W, there is a mediumwave broadcasting station with a transmission power of 20 kW.

Sports

* CB Ciudad de Logroño -

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

- Liga ASOBAL
CB Ciudad de Logroño
* Club Voleibol Logroño -

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

- Superliga Femenina
Club Voleibol Logroño
* EdF Logroño - women's football- Primera División
EdF Logroño
* UD Logroñés -

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

- Primera Federación
UD Logroñés
* SD Logroñés -

- Primera Federación
SD Logroñés
* Yagüe CF -

- Tercera Federación

Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

er Carlota Castrejana is from the city. David Lopez Moreno, the Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder is from Logroño.

Festivals and traditions

The patron saint of Logroño is Santa María de la Esperanza. The most important festivals are: * San Bernabé ( Saint Barnabas), celebrated on June 11, commemorating the victory and resistance of Logroño against French invaders under Francis I that besieged the city in May and June 1521. During this celebration, fried trout is typically served by the Fish Brotherhood, along with bread and wine, allegedly the only foodstuffs available in Logroño during the siege. * San Mateo, celebrated between September 20 and September 26. Since 2006 the celebrations start the Saturday before September 21 (the day of Saint Matthew) and last for a week. During the first week of January there is a cultural festival known as "ACTUAL" with

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and art.

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Logroño is twinned with: *

, Italy *

, Germany ''(since 2002)'' * Dax, France ''(since 1960)'' *

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland. ''(since 1990)''A-Z Twinning and Networking
(. Accessed 2010-11-02.) * El Hagounia,

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

''(since 1991)'' * Libourne, France ''(since 1979)'' * Rancagua,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

''(since 1992)'' * Ciudad de La Rioja,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

''(since 1992)'' Logroño is associated with: * Vichy, France ''(since 1965)'' *

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

, Germany ''(since 1990)''

Transport

The city is served by the Logroño railway station and by the Logroño–Agoncillo Airport which has flights to Madrid on

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

In popular culture

In the 4th season of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television series '' True Blood'', the witch Antonia is from Logroño. She refers to herself as Antonia Galván de Logroño. In the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

original series '' Money Heist'', where members of the band of bank robbers use cities as codenames, their accomplice Benjamín Martínez is jokingly given the codename 'Logroño'.

Notable people

Some notable people from Logroño are: * Juan Fernández de Navarrete, (1526–1579), Mannerist painter. * Alfonso Navarrete, (1571-1617), missionary, social worker and Dominican. * Rodrigo de Arriaga, (1592–1667) philosopher, theologian and

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. * Maria de Arburu, (died in Logrono, 1610) as an alleged witch * Fausto Elhuyar, (1755–1833) and Juan José Elhuyar (1754–1796) chemists and discoverers of

tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...

. * Martín Zurbano, (1788–1845) liberal military figure. * Baldomero Espartero, (1793–1879) general and liberal politician. * Cosme García Sáez, (1818–1874) engineer, first to invent a

submersible A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger ship, watercraft or dock, platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent ope ...

. * Ildefonso Zubía, (1819–1891) pharmacist and botanist. * Julio Rey Pastor, (1888–1962) mathematician. * María Teresa León, (1903–1988) writer of the Generation of '27. * Ramón Castroviejo, (1904–1987) eye surgeon. * María Teresa Gil de Gárate, (1906–1985) educator. * Gerardo Sacristán, (1907–1964) painter. * Lola Rodríguez Aragón, (1910–1984) soprano and entrepreneur. * Pepe Blanco, (1911–1981) singer and actor. * Enrique Blanco Lac, (1914–1994) painter. * Manuel Jalón, (1925–2011) engineer and inventor. *

, (1926–2008) screenwriter and novelist. * Soledad Bravo, (1943–) Venezuelan singer of Spanish origin. * Jesús Vicente Aguirre, (1948–) singer-songwriter and writer. * Pedro J. Ramírez, (1952–) journalist and editor of ''El Español''. * Luis Burgos, (1957–) representational painter. * Gaspar Llamazares, (1957–) doctor and politician of '' Izquierda Abierta''. * Angela Muro, (1962–) actress, singer and componist. * Pepe Viyuela, (1963–) actor and comedian. * Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón, (1972–) mathematician and science communicator. * Pablo Sainz Villegas, (1977–)

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

ist. * Daniel Aranzubía, (1979–) former football player. * Carlos Coloma Nicolás, (1981–) cross-country mountain biker. * Pau Quemada, (1983–)

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player. * Alberto Garzón, (1985–) economist and politician of '' United Left.''*

Gallery

File:Vareia-detailed-view.jpg, Roman ruins in Varea, near Logroño. This old village was known as "Vareia". File:Monumento-al-Fuero-de-Logro-o-en-el-Ayuntamiento.jpg, Monumento del Fuero de Logroño, given by Alfonso VI in 1095, near the Town Hall File:Arch of Revellín Wall in Logroño.jpg, Arch of Revellín Wall File:Casa ciencias.JPG, Science "House" File:Rectorado (University Headquarters) of Universidad de La Rioja in Logroño.jpg, Universidad de La Rioja

References

External links

Official website

University of La Rioja

Bermemar

Fish Brotherhood
{{DEFAULTSORT:Logrono Municipalities in La Rioja (Spain)