Caravaca de la Cruz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Caravaca de la Cruz | |||||
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| Panorama of Caravaca | |||||
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| Location | |||||
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| Coordinates : 38°6′N 1°52′W / 38.1°N 1.867°W | |||||
| Administration | |||||
| Country | Spain | ||||
| Autonomous Community | Murcia | ||||
| Province | Murcia | ||||
| Comarca | Comarca del Noroeste | ||||
| Mayor | Domingo Aranda Muñoz (PP) | ||||
| Geography | |||||
| Land Area | 859 km² | ||||
| Altitude | 800 m AMSL | ||||
| Population | |||||
| Population | 26,240 (2008-01-01) | ||||
| Density | 30,55 hab./km² (2008-10-20) | ||||
| General information | |||||
| Native name | Caravaca de la Cruz (Spanish) | ||||
| Spanish name | Caravaca de la Cruz | ||||
| Nickname | City of Legend | ||||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||||
| - summer | CEST (UTC+2) | ||||
| Postal code | 30400 | ||||
| Area code | +34 (Spain) + 968 (Murcia) | ||||
| Website | http://www.caravaca.org/ | ||||
Caravaca de la Cruz (or simply and more commonly Caravaca) is a town and municipality of southeastern Spain, in the province of Murcia, near the left bank of the River Caravaca, a tributary of the Segura. It has a population of 26,240 as of 2008 (INE). In 1900 it had 15,846 inhabitants.
It is the Fifth Place or Holy City, when holding the privilege to celebrate the jubilee year to perpetuity (granted in 1998 by the Pope John Paul II), along with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Camaleño (Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana). It celebrates its jubilee every seven years, first of them in 2003, when was visited by the then cardinal Pope Benedict XVI now Pope Benedict XVI. In 2010 it will celebrate the next jubilee, hoping to surpass the one million mark of visits received in 2003.
Caravaca is dominated by the medieval Castle of Santa Cruz, and contains several convents and a fine parish church, with a miraculous cross celebrated for its healing power, in honor of which a yearly festival is held on the 3 May. The hills which extend to the north are rich in marble and iron. The town is a considerable industrial centre, with large iron-works, tanneries and manufactories of paper, chocolate and oil.
The Neoclassic painter Rafael Tejeo was born in Caravaca.
A gigantic archeological site was found in january 2009. It is composed of 1300 graves from 2400 to 1950 BC. [1]
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Tahe a look around the place [2]
