Santiago de Compostela

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Santiago de Compostela


	Coat of Arms

Location

Location of Santiago de Compostela

Coordinates : 42°52′57″N 008°32′28″W / 42.8825, -8.54111Coordinates: 42°52′57″N 008°32′28″W / 42.8825, -8.54111
Time zone : CET (GMT +1)
- summer : CEST (GMT +2)

General information

Native name

Santiago de Compostela (Galician)

Spanish name

Santiago de Compostela

Postal code

15700

Website

santiagodecompostela.org

Administration

Country

Spain

Autonomous Community

Galicia

Province

A Coruña

Comarca

Santiago

Mayor

Xosé Antonio Sánchez (PSOE)

Geography

Land Area

223 km²

Altitude

260 m AMSL

Population

Population

92.919 (2007)

Density

416,68 hab./km² (2007)

Santiago de Compostela (also Saint James of Compostela) is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia. Located in the northwest region of Spain in the Province of A Coruña, it was the "European City of Culture" for the year 2000. The city's cathedral is the destination of the important medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St James (in Spanish the Camino de Santiago).

1 The city
- 1.1 The etymology of the name Compostela
2 History
- 2.1 History of the Way of St. James Pilgrimage
  - 2.1.1 The establishment of the shrine
  - 2.1.2 Pre-Christian legends
3 Demography
4 Main sights
5 Sister cities
6 See also
7 External links

Hostal dos Reis Católicos

St. James' shell

Train station in Santiago de Compostela

The cathedral borders the main Plaza of the old and well-preserved city. Across the square is the Palacio de Raxoi (Raxoi's Palace), the town hall and seat of the Galician Xunta, and on the right from the cathedral steps is the Hostal dos Reis Católicos, founded in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon, as a pilgrim's hospice (now a parador). The Obradoiro façade of the cathedral, the best known, is depicted on the Spanish euro coins of 1 cent, 2 cents, and 5 cents (€0.01, €0.02, and €0.05).

Santiago also has a fine University. The main campus can be seen best from an alcove in the large municipal park in the centre of the city. The University ensures youthful night life. Within the old town there are many narrow winding streets full of historic buildings. The new town all around it has less character though some of the older parts of the new town have some big apartments in them.

Santiago gives its name to one of the four military orders of Spain: Santiago, Calatrava, Alcantara and Montesa.

The prevailing wind from the Atlantic and the surrounding mountains combine to give Santiago some of Europe's highest rainfall: about 1,900 mm (75 inches) annually.

The popular etymology of the name "Compostela" holds that it comes from Latin campus stellae, i.e. "field of stars", making Santiago de Compostela "St. James in the Field of Stars". This name would come from the belief that the bones of St. James were taken from the Middle East, to Spain. These bones were then buried where a shepherd had spotted a star and a church was eventually built over the bones and later replaced with the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela.

Another etymology is Compositum, i.e. "The well founded", or Composita Tella, meaning "burial ground".

Yet another etymology derives it from "San Jacome Apostol".

^{This short section requires expansion.}

Santiago de Compostela was founded by Suebi people at the end of the 4th century or the beginning of the 5th century.

The legend that St James found his way to the Iberian peninsula, and had preached there is one of a number of early traditions concerning the missionary activities and final resting places of the apostles of Jesus. Although the 1884 Bull of Pope Leo XIII Omnipotens Deus accepted the authenticity of the relics at Compostela, the Vatican remains uncommitted as to whether the relics are those of Saint James the Great, while continuing to promote the more general benefits of pilgrimage to the site.

According to a tradition that cannot be traced before the 12th century, the relics were said to have been discovered in 835 by Theodomir, bishop of Iria Flavia in the far northwest of the principality of Asturias. Theodomir was guided to the spot by a star, the legend affirmed, drawing upon a familiar myth-element, hence "Compostela" was given an etymology as a corruption of Campus Stellae, "Plain of Stars."

As suggested already, it is probably impossible to know whose bones were actually found, and precisely when and how. Perhaps it does not matter. What the history of the pilgrimage requires, but what the meager sources fail to reveal, is how the local Galician cult associated with the saint was transformed into an international cult drawing pilgrims from distant parts of the world.

The 1000 year old pilgrimage to the shrine of St James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is known in English as the Way of St. James and in Spanish as the Camino de Santiago. Over 100,000 pilgrims travel to the city each year from points all over Europe, and other parts of the world.

As the lowest-lying land on that stretch of coast, the city's site took on added significance. Legends supposed of Celtic origin made it the place where the souls of the dead gathered to follow the Sun across the sea. Those unworthy of going to the Land of the Dead haunted Galicia as the Santa Compaña.

Demographic evolution of Santiago de Compostela between 1900 and 2006
1900	1930	1950	1981	2004	2006
24,120	38,270	55,553	82,404	92,298	93,458

^{This short section requires expansion.}

Santiago de Compostela (Old Town)*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Spain
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, vi
Reference	Santiago de Compostela (Old Town), UNESCO Ref. #347
Region†	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Inscription	1985 (9th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.