Valencia Capital City
The town was founded in 138 BC as a place for ex-soldiers of the army who had imposed the Pax Romana on the Iberian Peninsula.
Archaeological investigations have unearthed evidence of these first settlements that include post-holes for huts and tents, probably temporary shelter which, in a few years, gave way to more solid buildings.
The colony prospered quickly and soon began minting its own currency.
In the second half of the third century, along with the rest of the Empire, Valencia went through a stage of crisis that marked the beginning of a long period of decline, a process that resulted in depopulation and abandoned infrastructure.
From mid-fourth century there is evidence that there was a Christian community in the city dedicated to the memory of the Saint Vincent who was martyred here in 304.
The city was taken by the Visigoths in A.D. 413, and by the Moors in 714. After the downfall of the caliphate of Cordova, an independent Moorish kingdom of Valencia was established in 1021, and extended along the coast from Almeria to the Ebro estuary.
In 1094 the Almoravides occupied the city, but it was retaken within a few months by the Christians under El Cid, after whom the city is sometimes called Valencia del Cid.
After the death of El Cid, the Moors recovered possession in 1101 and it wasn’t until 1146 that they were definitively defeated by the Christian army.
Valencia has always been at the forefront of innovation. For example, the first Spanish printing-press is said to have been set up here in 1474.
In the 16th and 17th centuries Valencia became the seat of a considerable school of painting founded by Vicente Juanes (1523-1579). The school encouraged such celebrates as Francisco de Ribalta (1550-1628), Juan de Ribalta (1597-1628), Jose Ribera (1588-1656), Pedro Orrente (1560-1644) and J. G. Espinosa (1600-1680).
During the Napoleonic war, in 1808 an abortive attempt was made by the French to capture it city, something they managed to do in 1812. The city was held until June 1813. Evidence of this period can still be seen on the walls of the old town in the form of bullet and shell holes in the brickwork.
Dedicated to San Jose are the quintessential celebrations of the city of Valencia. Las Fallas, declared of International Tourist Interest, announce each year the arrival of spring.
From 15 to 19 March more than seven hundred monuments of polyurethane on a cardboard or wooden structure flood the streets of the city. Art, humour and satire come together in these fantastical representations of characters and scenes from everyday life. Their end is on the pyres that purify the night of San Jose.
The origin of this festival is attributed to the carpenters of the city who illuminated their shops with a floor lamp and rustic wood in winter.
The fires were fed with wood chips, waste wood and junk from around the neighbourhood.
This mid-nineteenth century festival has become ever popular and is now a fundamental part of city life. On the night of San Jose, the streets, plazas and boulevards are filled with these impressive temporary monuments and their destruction at the end of the night is accompanied by floods of bitter tears...
More information: http://www.turisvalencia.es/home.aspx
