Jaca

Coordinates: 42°33′N 0°33′W / 42.550°N 0.550°W / 42.550; -0.550
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Jaca (disambiguation).
Jaca
Chaca (Aragonese)
Xaca (Aragonese)
Jaca as viewed from the Rapitan fort.
Jaca as viewed from the Rapitan fort.
UTC+2 (CET)
Websitewww.jaca.es

Jaca (Spanish pronunciation:

Jacetania
.

Villages

Besides Jaca town, there are a number of outlying villages in the municipality of Jaca, including the ski resort of Astún.

History

The origins of the city are obscure, but its name is apparently of

Sertorius and Pompey. According to the atlas of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, Jaca was a town where minted coins were made[3] from the second half of the 2nd century BC, a small number of which are now in the British Museum.[4] The coins show an unidentified bearded head to the right with an inscription to the left and also have an image of a dolphin. The reverse depicts a horseman carrying a spear to the right, with an inscription below in Iberian reading iaka.[4] In the year 195 BC, the Roman consul Cato the Elder began the conquest of the city, ending in the spring of 194 BC.[5]

After Roman rule, the

Al Andalus, the capital city was moved from Jaca to Huesca in 1096. The loss of capital status did not mean that Jaca lost other urban functions related to its geographical location. Thus, it continued to play its role as a market city and services for its region.[8]

The plagues and fires of the late Middle Ages plunged Jaca into a deep crisis from which it would not emerge until the intervention of

Ferdinand the Catholic to form a local government. The bourgeoisie was favored by this situation and many became patrons of artists whose results can be seen especially in the cathedral. The city was consolidated as a military post from which to defend the peninsular kingdoms from a hypothetical French invasion. In this regard, Philip II ordered the construction of several fortresses throughout the Pyrenees, including in 1592 the pentagonal Jaca citadel, designed by the Italian engineer Tibúrcio Spannocchi in the fields that had formed the Burgo Nuevo, the neighborhood built outside the city walls.[9]

On December 12–13 1930 the Jaca uprising, a mutiny whose leaders demanded abolition of the monarchy, was suppressed with some difficulty. It was an early event that preceded the Spanish Civil War.

Climate

Jaca has an submediterranean climate (

snowfall
, snow being common from late November to early March. Heavy snowfalls are sporadic and usually occur during cold spells. Jaca's average annual temperature is 12.2 °C (54.0 °F).

Citadel of Jaca.
Detail of the interior of Jaca Cathedral.
Climate data for Jaca, 1981–2010
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 9.5
(49.1) 		11.0
(51.8) 		14.7
(58.5) 		16.2
(61.2) 		20.5
(68.9) 		25.7
(78.3) 		29.4
(84.9) 		29.0
(84.2) 		24.4
(75.9) 		19.0
(66.2) 		13.2
(55.8) 		9.8
(49.6) 		18.5
(65.4)
Daily mean °C (°F) 4.4
(39.9) 		5.3
(41.5) 		8.3
(46.9) 		10.0
(50.0) 		14.0
(57.2) 		18.4
(65.1) 		21.6
(70.9) 		21.3
(70.3) 		17.5
(63.5) 		13.2
(55.8) 		7.9
(46.2) 		4.9
(40.8) 		12.2
(54.0)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −0.8
(30.6) 		−0.4
(31.3) 		1.8
(35.2) 		3.7
(38.7) 		7.5
(45.5) 		11.1
(52.0) 		13.7
(56.7) 		13.6
(56.5) 		10.6
(51.1) 		7.3
(45.1) 		2.6
(36.7) 		0.0
(32.0) 		5.9
(42.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 57.9
(2.28) 		48.9
(1.93) 		47.8
(1.88) 		82.2
(3.24) 		76.4
(3.01) 		48.6
(1.91) 		37.4
(1.47) 		43.2
(1.70) 		68.2
(2.69) 		89.6
(3.53) 		89.0
(3.50) 		79.3
(3.12) 		768.5
(30.26)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) 10.0 8.7 8.6 11.8 12.5 7.1 6.1 6.4 7.5 10.9 11.3 11.0 111.9
Source: World Meteorological Organization (WMO)[10]

Main sights

Jaca boasts several

medieval walls and towers surrounding the 11th-century Romanesque Jaca Cathedral
.

The Jaca citadel, a fortification dating to the late 16th century, is home to a colony of rock sparrows.

The Diocesan Museum of Jaca (Museum of Medieval Sacred Art) protects Romanesque and Gothic frescos, some of which were found in the most remote locations in the Jaca district.

Tourism and sports

Jaca is a

winter sports
.

Starting in the early 1970s, the city was transformed from being a small provincial and garrison town to become the gateway to a mid-tier mountain sports area with two major winter resorts (Valle de Astun and Candanchu) within a 30 km (19 mi) drive of the city.

The accompanying urban and infrastructure development in the 1970s and 1980s was controversial, with many claiming that the town lost a lot of its original charm and authenticity to the interests of developers.

The development experienced by the city, with the construction of a nationally known ice-skating rink (the Pista de Hielo del Pirineo), a small convention centre (the Palacio de Congresos) and countless second homes, had a profound impact on the economy of the Valley (Valle del Aragon), where many of its inhabitants evolved from small-scale subsistence farmera in Jaca and the surrounding villages to become part of a tertiary economy.

Jaca was the host city of the 1981 and 1995 Winter

Universiades. The city also hosted the 2007 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. Its popularity for winter sports was a motivating factor in the city's failed bids for the 1998 Winter Olympics, 2002 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics, which were awarded to Nagano, Salt Lake City and Vancouver. It was again the applicant city of Spain for the 2014 Winter Olympics, but the bid failed again when it was not selected as a candidate city and the games were ultimately awarded to Sochi
.

Gallery

  • Armour courtyard of the citadel
    Armour courtyard of the citadel
  • Statues inside the citadel representing the Spanish tercios way of living
    Statues inside the citadel representing the Spanish tercios way of living
  • Statues on the west façade of the cathedral
    Statues on the west façade of the cathedral
  • Cathedral, interior
    Cathedral, interior
  • Church of San Pedro
    Church of San Pedro
  • Casa Borau
    Casa Borau
  • Plaza de la Catedral
    Plaza de la Catedral
  • Calle Mayor
    Calle Mayor

See also

References

  1. ^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
  2. ^ "Toponyms: towns with local name in Aragonese in Great Aragonese Encyclopedia". Archived from the original on 2012-01-11. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
  3. ^ Talbert, R., (2000). (ed.) Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. Map 25, E3. Also CDROM disc entry Map 25.
  4. ^ a b Bagwell-Purefoy, P., and Meadows, A., (2002). Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum (SNG). Volume IX. The British Museum 2. Spain. SNG No's 775-776
  5. ^ Livy, History of Rome, book xxxiv.
  6. ^ Joseph F. O’Callaghan A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press 1975, p. 163.
  7. ^ Joseph F. O’Callaghan A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press 1975, p. 208.
  8. ^ Joseph F. O’Callaghan A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press 1975, pp. 219, 485.
  9. ^ History of Jaca (Jaca.com)
  10. ^ "World Weather Information Service. Jaca". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 14 January 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jaca.
Preceded by
Way of St. James
 		Succeeded by
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