La Seu d'Urgell (la Seu d'Urgell)
La Seu d'Urgell (Seo de Urgel, formerly in Urgell ) is a town located in the Catalan Pyrenees in Spain. La Seu d'Urgell is also the capital of the comarca Alt Urgell, head of the judicial district of la Seu d'Urgell and the seat of the Bishop of Urgell, one of the co-princes of Andorra. It is located in the district of Alt Pirineu i Aran (High Pyrenees and Aran) and is the most populated town, with 17.4% of the district's population. La Seu d'Urgell and Puigcerdà together have 30% of the population of the area.
It is located at the confluence of the Segre and the Valira rivers. The city is in the local region of Urgellet, a Pyrenean region formed by 16 municipalities of Alt Urgell. Urgellet and Andorra were the originary County of Urgell with capital in la Seu d'Urgell before the county expansion to the south.
Alt Urgell is the gateway to the state of Andorra and the proximity to this important population center and economic activity is one of the main reasons for the current vigour of the city of la Seu d'Urgell within Alt Pirineu i Aran.
The town's patron saints are Saint Ot of Urgell, Saint Sebastian, and the Virgin of Urgell. While the Virgin of Núria and Sant Ermengol are the main patrons of the diocese of Urgell. Sant Ermengol is the most prominent in the city than other patrons. Probably that's why there are various events throughout the year dedicated to Sant Ermengol, such as the Sant Ermengol Fair, one of the oldest in Catalonia, and the altarpiece of Sant Ermengol.
The Parc Olímpic del Segre, built in 1992 for the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, is a pump-driven canoe and kayak sports venue located adjacent to the historical centre of la Seu d'Urgell.
The name la Seu d'Urgell, in Latin Sedes Urgelli, is formed by two different words: Seu from the Latin "Sedes", or seat, and Urgell a pre-Roman name. Joan Coromines, a linguist, interprets that the name is related to the presence of water.
The Iberian settlement of Arse-durgui (or Arse d'Urgui) was on the hill of Castellciutat. At that time the hill was called Puiolo Urgelli. Where there was the village of Arse-durgui they built the city of Urgell (in Latin civitas Orgellia and in Catalan ciutat d'Urgell) and here lies the origin of the name Castellciutat. Until the eighteenth century the town was known simply as "Ciutat" (City in English) and Castell (Castle) was added because the existence of an ancient castle that was home of the Counts of Urgell.
Shortly after the destruction of the former Orgellia new neighborhood arose, which became the new home of the Diocese of Urgell. Its name vicus Sedes Urgelli indicates that the town is the episcopal see of the Bishop of Urgell.
Over time, Sedes Urgelli took importance and lost the word vicus (denotes that it was a district) while civitas Orgellia lost the word Orgellia and becomes simply Civitas until the 18th century.
It is located at the confluence of the Segre and the Valira rivers. The city is in the local region of Urgellet, a Pyrenean region formed by 16 municipalities of Alt Urgell. Urgellet and Andorra were the originary County of Urgell with capital in la Seu d'Urgell before the county expansion to the south.
Alt Urgell is the gateway to the state of Andorra and the proximity to this important population center and economic activity is one of the main reasons for the current vigour of the city of la Seu d'Urgell within Alt Pirineu i Aran.
The town's patron saints are Saint Ot of Urgell, Saint Sebastian, and the Virgin of Urgell. While the Virgin of Núria and Sant Ermengol are the main patrons of the diocese of Urgell. Sant Ermengol is the most prominent in the city than other patrons. Probably that's why there are various events throughout the year dedicated to Sant Ermengol, such as the Sant Ermengol Fair, one of the oldest in Catalonia, and the altarpiece of Sant Ermengol.
The Parc Olímpic del Segre, built in 1992 for the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, is a pump-driven canoe and kayak sports venue located adjacent to the historical centre of la Seu d'Urgell.
The name la Seu d'Urgell, in Latin Sedes Urgelli, is formed by two different words: Seu from the Latin "Sedes", or seat, and Urgell a pre-Roman name. Joan Coromines, a linguist, interprets that the name is related to the presence of water.
The Iberian settlement of Arse-durgui (or Arse d'Urgui) was on the hill of Castellciutat. At that time the hill was called Puiolo Urgelli. Where there was the village of Arse-durgui they built the city of Urgell (in Latin civitas Orgellia and in Catalan ciutat d'Urgell) and here lies the origin of the name Castellciutat. Until the eighteenth century the town was known simply as "Ciutat" (City in English) and Castell (Castle) was added because the existence of an ancient castle that was home of the Counts of Urgell.
Shortly after the destruction of the former Orgellia new neighborhood arose, which became the new home of the Diocese of Urgell. Its name vicus Sedes Urgelli indicates that the town is the episcopal see of the Bishop of Urgell.
Over time, Sedes Urgelli took importance and lost the word vicus (denotes that it was a district) while civitas Orgellia lost the word Orgellia and becomes simply Civitas until the 18th century.
Map - La Seu d'Urgell (la Seu d'Urgell)
Map
Country - Spain
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| Flag of Spain | |
Anatomically modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 42,000 years ago. The ancient Iberian and Celtic tribes, along with other pre-Roman peoples, dwelled the territory maintaining contacts with foreign Mediterranean cultures. The Roman conquest and colonization of the peninsula (Hispania) ensued, bringing the Romanization of the population. Receding of Western Roman imperial authority ushered in the migration of different non-Roman peoples from Central and Northern Europe with the Visigoths as the dominant power in the peninsula by the fifth century. In the early eighth century, most of the peninsula was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, and during early Islamic rule, Al-Andalus became a dominant peninsular power centered in Córdoba. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in Northern Iberia, chief among them León, Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre made an intermittent southward military expansion, known as Reconquista, repelling the Islamic rule in Iberia, which culminated with the Christian seizure of the Emirate of Granada in 1492. Jews and Muslims were forced to choose between conversion to Catholicism or expulsion, and eventually the converts were expelled through different royal decrees.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR | Euro | € | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| EU | Basque language |
| CA | Catalan language |
| GL | Galician language |
| OC | Occitan language |
| ES | Spanish language |