Sigüenza

Coordinates: 41°04′09″N 2°38′21″W / 41.06917°N 2.63917°W / 41.06917; -2.63917
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Siguenza (disambiguation).
Sigüenza
Municipality
Comarca
Serranía de Guadalajara
Towns (pedanías)
List
Government
 • Type
Mayor-council government
 • BodyAyuntamiento de Sigüenza
 • MayorJosé Manuel Latre Rebled (2011) (PP)
Area
 • Total386.87 km2 (149.37 sq mi)
Elevation
1,004 m (3,294 ft)
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total4,356
 • Density11/km2 (29/sq mi)
Demonym(s)seguntino, -na; (es)
Time zoneCET (GMT +1)
 • Summer (DST)CEST (GMT +2)
Postcode
19250
TypeNon-movable
CriteriaHistoric ensemble
Designated20 May 1965
Reference no.RI-53-0000059

Sigüenza (Spanish pronunciation:

Castile-La Mancha, Spain
.

History

See also:
Bishopric of Siguenza

The site of the ancient Segontia ('dominating over the valley') of the Celtiberian Arevaci, now called Villavieja ('old town'), is half a league distant from the present Sigüenza. Livy mentions the town in his discussion of the wars of Cato the Elder with the Celtiberians.

The city fell under

Moorish and Castilian
rule.

Around 1123 it was taken by

Infantes de la Cerda, and in 1355 it was the prison of Blanche of Bourbon, consort of Peter of Castile. In 1465 Diego López of Madrid, having usurped the miter
, fortified himself there.

The last bishop-lord, known as the "mason-bishop", built a neighborhood below the level of the old town in a Neo-Classical style, before renouncing the temporal lordship.

During the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist Civil Guard fortified the upper castle, while the Republican forces took to the lower cathedral.

After the war, the city limits have increased with the incorporation of 28 pedanías (villages).

Main sights

Cathedral

See also: Sigüenza Cathedral
Cathedral of Sigüenza.

The

balustrade which crowns the facade, the work of Bishop Herrera in the eighteenth century. The interior is divided into a nave and two aisles
, in Gothic style.

The main choir begins in the transept with a Renaissance altar built by order of Bishop Mateo de Burgos. In the transept is the Chapel of Saint Liberata (Librada), the female patron saint of the city, with a reredos and the relics of the saint, all constructed at the expense of Bishop Fadrique of Portugal, who is buried there.

The sepulchre of Martín Vázquez de Arce, with the doncel de Sigüenza

What is now the Chapel of St. Catherine was dedicated to

St. Thomas of Canterbury by the English Bishop Jocelin. The chapel houses the sepulchre of Martín Vázquez de Arce (Martin Vasques de Arze in the spelling of the time). Vázquez died in 1486 during the conquest of Granada and his brother Fernando, bishop of the Canary Islands, ordered a portrait in alabaster where he lies on his side while reading, in one of the finest examples of Spanish funerary art
. It contrasts with the recumbent figures of his parents in the same chapel.

The authors of the

Cardinal Mendoza is interred in the main choir. Beyond the choir proper, which is situated in the centre, there is the altar of Nuestra Señora la Mayor, in black marble from Calatorao and red marble, featuring spiral Solomonic columns
.

The main

Napoleonic troops
. The half cannon vault features 304 big heads, all different, and 2000 smaller ones, hence the nickname of the room.

The cathedral's ceiling and stained glass were damaged in the Spanish Civil War, with the reconstruction ending in 1947.

The medieval castle.
Interior of the castle.

Connected with the cathedral is a

high altar
.

Castle

With foundations dating back to the 5th century,

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía.[3] Decorated with banners and suits of armour, the huge lounge was originally the castle's dining room.[4]

Other buildings

The Conciliar Seminary of San Bartolomé is the work of Bishop Bartolomé Santos de Risoba (1651). There is a smaller seminary, that of the Immaculate Conception, and a college. The College of San Antonio el Grande was formerly a university (see below), founded in 1476 by the wealthy Juan López de Medina, archdeacon of Almazán, but its prosperity was hindered by the foundation of the University of Alcalá; in 1770 it was reduced to a few chairs of philosophy and theology, until it was suppressed in 1837.

Other buildings include the 12th century Church of St James (

Hieronymite
college.

University of Sigüenza

See also: Medieval university and List of medieval universities

The building of the College of San Antonio Portaceli of Sigüenza, Spain, which was later transformed into a university, was begun in 1476. Its founder was Don Juan López de Medina,

secular law and of medicine
.

Among the professors were the mathematician and theologian Pedro Ciruelo, who enhanced the prestige of the university as a center of learning; Don Francisco Delgado,

Bishop of Sigüenza
. Thus evidently the influence of the University of Sigüenza in the Spanish Catholic church and kingdom was considerable in the last years of the fifteenth century and the first years of the sixteenth; thereafter it fell into decay. It was suppressed in 1837.

The university is mentioned in Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote: "Often he had arguments with the priest of his village, who was a scholar and a graduate of Siguenza ..."[5]

Twin towns

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sigüenza.
  • Bishopric of Siguenza

Sources and references

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sigüenza". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

  1. ^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
  2. ^ "Castillo de Sigüenza" (in Spanish). Turismo Castilla-La Mancha. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Its history, its legens and its curiosities" (in Spanish). The Castle of Sigüenza. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Parador Hotel Siguenza". ParaPromotions. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  5. ISBN 0-14-044010-0

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sigüenza.
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