Ciudad Real


Ciudad Real is a municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha, capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It is the 5th most populated municipality in the region.

History

It was founded with the name Villa Real under the auspice of Alfonso X The Wise, who granted it a charter that followed the model of Cuenca's. Located within the dominion of the Military Order of Calatrava, the repopulation struggled initially.
During the Middle Ages, four kilometres of walls and one hundred and thirty towers protected a population made up of Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Villa Real hosted the Cortes of Castile in 1346.
Juan II of Castile granted Villa Real the status of city in 1420, thus becoming Ciudad Real. The city most probably did not have more than 2000 inhabitants by the time and despite having celebrated Cortes once, the dominant city in the area was still Almagro.
After the unification of the Iberian kingdoms under the Catholic Monarchs, Ciudad Real became the capital of the province of La Mancha in 1691. This fact favoured its economic development which was shown by the construction of several important buildings. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake destroyed many of these buildings. In 1809, during the Peninsular War, French troops defeated the Spanish army and occupied the town, using the local hospital as their headquarters and barracks.
Much of the centre was destroyed during the Spanish civil war.

Main sights

The Plaza Mayor sits in the centre of Ciudad Real. Today, only two parts of the wall that surrounded the city in medieval times remain standing: The Toledo Gate.
Don Quixote's Museum is situated next to Parque de Gasset.
The Museo Elisa Cendreros exhibits an old collection of fans and carved wood.
The Ermita de Alarcos is the oldest church in Ciudad Real. The Iglesia of Santiago is also the most beautiful and oldest church in Ciudad Real, it was built at the end of the 13th century in romanic style. Its style is Gothic. It is decorated with gothic paintings and with seven-headed dragons, the ceiling is decorated with stones forming eight pointed stars.
Another important church in Ciudad Real is Iglesia de San Pedro. It is the most interesting and typical monument of the city. It was built during the 14th and 15th centuries. Its style is Gothic, and it houses the tomb of Chantre de Coca, confessor and chaplain of the Catholic Monarchs.
Ciudad Real Cathedral, built in the 16th century, has the second-largest nave in Spain and a magnificent Baroque altarpiece.

Sports

The city previously had a handball team, the BM Ciudad Real, which was the winner of the handball EHF Champions League in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
The handball club was one of the best in the world and its home arena, the Don Quixote Arena, was one of the biggest in the Spanish professional league. BM Ciudad Real, however, moved its team to Madrid in 2011; renamed as "Atlético Madrid", it dissolved in 2013.

Transport

The city has a railway station on the AVE high-speed rail line, the Ciudad Real railway station.
A high-capacity airport was built in the city, but closed in 2012. The privately funded airport cost an estimated €1 billion to build, and is now for sale for €100 million plus payment of the developer's debt. Although in July 2014 this was reduced to €80 million in a further attempt to find a buyer.
In July 2015 the airport was auctioned resulting in only one bidder, Chinese company Tzaneem International offering €10,000.
The airport was reopened on 12 September 2019.
The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Ciudad Real, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 33 min. 3% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 8 min, while 1% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 2 km, while 0% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.

Climate

The city has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, bordering on semi-arid, with cool winters and very hot dry summers.

Education

Ciudad Real has 24 primary schools and 6 secondary schools.
The high school "Torreón del Alcázar" was founded in 1987. In the first years there were only vocational studies, thirty teachers and 350 students. Some years later the high school incorporated the compulsory secondary studies and A levels. At the moment there are 80 teachers and 1200 students. In the year 1995 the high school was offered the opportunity to become a bilingual school. In the year 2005 the first bilingual group arrived.
See University of Castilla–La Mancha, Campus of Ciudad Real.

Events

One of the most popular festivals in the city is La Pandorga, which takes place July 30 and 31. On the last day of the month the festival honours its patroness, La Virgen del Prado. The usual attire of the participants consists of jeans, a white shirt, and the traditional handkerchief.

People