Bien: Conjunto Histórico-artístico ciudad vieja de la Coruña
Comunidad Autónoma: C.A. Galicia
Provincia: Coruña / A Coruña
Municipio: La Coruña / A Coruña
Categoría: Conjunto Histórico
Código: (R.I.) - 53 - 0000321 - 00000
Registro: (R.I.) REGISTRO BIC INMUEBLES: Código definitivo
Fecha de Incoación: 01-10-1976
Fecha de Declaración: 09-03-1984
Fecha Boletín Declaración: 22-03-1984
"The old city
?
As in all cities, it is essential to visit the "Old City".
A tour of its streets makes us relive the stages of its history and installs us in the varied rhythms of the heartbeat of a medieval and baroque city.
This tall city occupies only a part of the rocky A Coruña peninsula embraced by the Atlantic Ocean. Once in it, and from elevated places such as the romantic garden of San Carlos, the strong and wide sculpture of the Roman Magnus Portus Artabrorum can be appreciated.
This unique garden, erected prominently in the center of a raised fortress sheltered from the winds, houses the burial ark of English General Sir John Moore, killed by French troops who attacked the city in 1809. It metaphorically relates the tomb of the hero of the Battle of Elviña with the ever-present sea. This grave serves as inspiration to the most universal Galician, Rosalía de Castro, who dedicates the following verses to her:
"More than beautiful and without equal abode,
I have coupo in sorte the mortal remains!
Quixera God that for you non fora,
name foreigner, room allea! ... ".
The Upper City, later called the Old City
It preserves the noblest residences and mansions of the aristocratic families, which gives it an air of distinction of which its current inhabitants, powerful executives linked to the world of politics and fashion, are proud.
Among them, mention should be made of the palace of the Marquis of San Martín de Hombreiro on Calle del Parróte, 14; the family mansion of the Coruña writer Doña Emilia Pardo Bazán, headquarters of the Real Academia Galega, on Calle Tabernas, 11; the Cornide Palace, facing the Plaza de Santa María, according to the French court fashion of Louis XV; the house where the married couple formed by Manuel Murguía and Rosalía de Castro lived with his children, remembered on the facade with a plaque in Príncipe, 3; the mansion of the Marquises of Camarasa, today the Military Government, where Carlos I spent the night when he came to the city, on Calle Veeduría, 2.
Brigantium • Church of Santiago • Convent of Santo Domingo
This Roman settlement named Brigantium has been delimited by extensive fortifications within which a military and administrative population developed. Here arose the old guilds that still persist in the names of the streets such as Herrerías, Tinajas, Zapatería, Veeduría, Cortaduría ... Our journey begins in the narrow street of Santiago, next to the Romanesque church of the same name, the second largest monument old town after the Tower of Hercules. Pilgrims came to it, coming from Northern Europe and the British Isles, who followed the famous and popular Jacobean sea route or English Way from the 14th to the 17th century.
In its old atrium, presided over by an equestrian image of the Apostle Santiago dressed as a knight, the meetings of the City Council took place, held at "bells" during the 14th and 15th centuries. If bad weather conditions required it, they moved to the Santo Domingo convent. The latter houses the chapel of the Virgen del Rosario patron saint of the city.
This Coruña dock also saw the expedition of the illustrious doctor Francisco Javier Balmis depart in 1803 to take the smallpox vaccine to America in the corvette María Pita.
Linked to the medieval origin of the city arises the Collegiate Church of Santa María del Campo.
Built in the 13th century, its main portal is decorated with an Epiphany or Adoration of the Kings, symbolizing the long journey that travelers have made to reach our lands. Inside we admire a Gothic annunciation rooted in the popular legend that tells that the sea will cover the city up to the height of the index finger of the Archangel Gabriel. Threat neutralized by the presence in the temple of the image of the Virgin Mary resting on a lion, who saves the city.
In its vicinity is the Museum of Sacred Art, container or chest of the silver Eucharistic casket donated by Doña María Ana de Neoburgo who spent the night in this city on the occasion of her marriage with the last Austria, King Carlos II, in 1690.
A special corner is formed by the convent of the Bárbaras, monastery and church founded in the late Middle Ages under the invocation of Santa Bárbara, patron saint of the city in times of storm. They formed a Franciscan female community, which entered the order of Santa Clara in 1912. This serene and peaceful place has a relief of the Last Judgment with the representation of the sun and the moon with Saint Michael weighing the souls in the balance.
We arrived at Plaça de la Harina, known today as Plaça del General Azcárraga, Minister of the Cánovas del Castillo cabinet who reinstated his General Captaincy in the city. The fountain of Desire in the center and the Captaincy General, a neoclassical palace built in 1740 to be the seat of the Audience and Captaincy General of the Kingdom of Galicia, are splendidly ornamented.
This tour evokes historical legends from the imperial figure of Carlos I, who convened the Cortes of Castile on his way to England in 1520 in the church of the Third Order and the convent of San Francisco, to distinguished guests such as the future King Felipe II , traveling to the British Isles in 1554 to marry Queen Mary Tudor.
They were times of invasions, such as that of the English admiral Sir Francis Drake who attacked the port with his ship and faced by María Pita, a woman from the town and a neighbor of Calle Herrerías 28, now the Casa Museo de María Pita; that with her courageous defense she becomes the local heroine. The fortified remains of that old walled enclosure today appear in the Parrote area with the bastion of San Carlos, the Castle of San Antón, the three Gates (Parrote, El Clavo and San Miguel) and the walls behind the Abente y Lago Hospital and the Rectorate Park - former headquarters of the Real Maestranza since the 17th century and place of manufacture of weapons for the army - currently occupied by the Rectorate of the University of A Coruña."
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