Huesca

From Freepedia

Huesca (Aragonese Uesca, Catalan Osca) is a city in Aragon, Spain. Huesca is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name.

Its pre-Roman Iberian name was Bolskan, the capital of the Ilergetes, a name that was rendered as Osca (Urbs Victrix Osca) during the Roman Empire. Under the impetus of Quintus Sertorius, the renegade Roman and Iberian hero who made Osca his base, the city minted its own coinage and was the site of a prestigious school founded by Sertorius to educate young Iberians in Latin and Romanitas in general. The fully Romanized city, with its forum in the Cathedral square was made a municipium by decree of Augustus in 30 BCE. The name became Wasqah during the Arab domination, when the fortified city was a frontier bastion against the Christian counts and local kings of the Pyrenees. In 1094 Sancho Ramirez built the nearby castle Montearagon with the intention of laying siege to Wasqah; here he met his death by a stray arrow as he was reconnoitering the city's walls. It was conquered in 1096 by Peter I of Aragon.

Huesca celebrates its main annual festival in San Lorenzo (Laurence)— a native of Huesca martyred in Rome, 268 AD— which falls on August 10th. The fiesta starts on the 9th and finishes on the 15th. San Lorenzo, born in Huesca, was bishop of Roma and martyrized by Romans, burnt on a grill, so the grill is the symbol of this saint, and appears in many artistic expressions of the city.

It is also the birthplace of film director Carlos Saura and his brother Antonio Saura, contemporary artist.

During the Civil War (1936-39) the "Huesca Front" was the scene of some of the worst fighting between Republicans and the rebels.

Contents 1 Churches of Huesca 2 Coffee in Huesca 3 External links 4 Reference

Churches of Huesca

Huesca is filled with churches.

• Cathedral begun by Jaime I of Aragon upon the ruined foundations of the mosque, in the late 13th century. The cathedral is in Gothic style, with a triple nave and lateral chapels. The Apostles are carved in the doorway reveal.

• Iglesia de San Pedro el Viejo, a Romanesque church rebuilt in the 17th century, retains its cloister of 1140.

• Iglesia de San Lorenzo, 17th–18th centuries

• Iglesia de Santo Domingo, in Baroque style.

• Iglesia de la Compañía San Vicente, 17th century.

• Ermita de Ntr. Sra. de Salas-M.H.A.-, románico y barroco

• Ermita de Loreto -M.H.A.-, cuna de San Lorenzo según la tradición

• Ermita de San Jorge -s. XVI-, en recuerdo de la batalla de Alcoraz

• Ermita de las Mártires

• Ermita de Santa Lucía

• Ermita de Jara, in ruins

• San Miguel, Romanesque tower

• Santa María de Foris, románico de transición

• Santa Cruz, Seminary, on Romanesque foundations.

Coffee in Huesca

Huesca is notable for the saying "Tomorrow we'll have a coffee in Huesca", which was a running joke among militiamen of the Spanish Civil War. In February 1938, George Orwell was stationed near the fascist-held Huesca as a member of the POUM militia. In Homage to Catalonia, Orwell writes about this running joke phrase, originally a naïvely optimistic comment made by one of the Spanish Republican generals. Orwell writes:

Months earlier, when Siétamo was taken, the general commanding the Government troops had said gaily: 'Tomorrow we'll have a coffee in Huesca.' It turned out that he was mistaken. There had been bloody attacks, but the town did not fall, and [the phrase] had become a standing joke throughout the army. If I ever go back to Spain I shall make a point of having a cup of coffee in Huesca.

Huesca is famous also because of the legend of the Bell of Huesca.

External links

Reference

• Michael H. Crawford, 1985. Coinage and Money Under the Roman Republic in series Library of Numismatics (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd.), pages 84 - 102.