| Huesca Uesca |
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| — Municipality — | |||
| The city of Huesca as seen from the cathedral | |||
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| Motto: Gate of the Pyrenees | |||
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Huesca
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Spain | ||
| Autonomous community | Aragon | ||
| Province | Huesca | ||
| Comarca | Hoya de Huesca | ||
| Judicial district | Huesca | ||
| Founded by | Iberians | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | Mayor-council | ||
| • Body | Ayuntamiento de Huesca | ||
| • Mayor | Ana Alós López (2011) (PP) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 161.0 km2 (62.2 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 488 m (1,601 ft) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • Total | 52,347 | ||
| • Density | 325.1/km2 (842.1/sq mi) | ||
| Demonym | Oscense | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 22001 - 22006 | ||
| Dialing code | 974 | ||
| Patron Saints | Saint Lawrence Saint Vincent |
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| Website | Official website | ||
Huesca (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈweska]; Aragonese: Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almost a quarter of the total population of the province. That makes it one of the least populated provincial capitals in Spain.
Huesca celebrates its main festivities Fiestas de San Lorenzo[1] from 9 to 15 August.
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Huesca's pre-Roman Iberian name was Bolskan. It was the capital of the Ilergetes, in the north of Hispania Tarraconensis, on the road from Tarraco (modern Tarragona) and Ilerda (modern Lleida) to Caesaraugusta (modern Zaragoza)[2] and fell under Caesaraugusta's jurisdiction. Pliny alone[3] places the Oscenses in Vescitania, a district mentioned nowhere else[4] The city's name was rendered as Osca, and was a Roman colony, Urbs Victrix Osca, during the Roman Empire. Under the impetus of Quintus Sertorius, the renegade Roman and Iberian hero who made Osca his base, the city minted its own coinage and was the site of a prestigious school founded by Sertorius to educate young Iberians in Latin and Romanitas in general. We learn from Plutarch[5] that it was a large town, and the place where Sertorius died. It is probably the town called Ileoscan (Ἰλεόσκαν) by Strabo, in an apparently corrupt passage[6] It seems to have possessed silver mines,[7] unless the argentum Oscense here mentioned merely refers to the minted silver of the town.
18th century Spanish historian Enrique Flórez, however,[8] has pointed out the impossibility of one place supplying such vast quantities of minted silver as we find recorded in ancient writers under the terms argentum Oscense, signatum Oscense; and is of the opinion that "Oscense" in these phrases means "Spanish", being a corruption of "Eus-cara".[9]
The fully Romanised city, with its forum in the Cathedral square, was made a municipium by decree of Augustus in 30 BC. It was renamed Wasqah during the period of Arab domination, when the fortified city was a stronghold defending the frontier against the Christian counts and local kings of the Pyrenees. In 1094 Sancho Ramirez built the nearby Montearagón castle with the intention of laying siege to Wasqah; here he met his death by a stray arrow as he was reconnoitring the city's walls. It was conquered in 1096 by Peter I of Aragon.
In 1354, King Peter IV of Aragon chartered the University of Huesca, which initially had a faculty of theology. The school expanded, but by the end of the 16th century was eclipsed by the University of Zaragoza.[10] The university was abolished in 1845.[11]
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) the "Huesca Front" was the scene of some of the worst fighting between the Republicans and Franco's army. The city was besieged by the Republicans, George Orwell among them (see below) but never fell.
Huesca celebrates its most important annual festival in August: the festival (or fiesta) of San Lorenzo (Lawrence), a native of Huesca martyred in 268 AD. The anniversary of his martyrdom falls on August 10. The fiesta starts on 9 August and finishes on the 15. Many of the inhabitants dress in green and white for the duration of the fiesta.
San Lorenzo, born in Huesca, was a deacon in Rome and martyred by the Romans, burned on a grille (at least according to legend). Hence the grille is the symbol of San Lorenzo. It can be seen in a number of decorative works in the city.
Huesca is also the birthplace of film director Carlos Saura and his brother Antonio Saura, contemporary artist. There is an international film festival held annually.
The writer Oscar Sipan, winner of several literary prizes, was born in Huesca in 1974. The celebrated illustrator Isidro Ferrer, though born in Madrid, lives in the city.
Huesca is located in the northern region of Aragón, in a depression known as Hoya de Huesca to 488 m (1,601.05 ft) above sea level, close to the city is located the Sierra de Guara, with a height of 2.077 m. The geographical coordinates of the city are: 42° 08´ N, 0° 24´ W.
Its municipal area is 161.02 km ² and borders the municipalities of Almudévar, Vicién, Monflorite-Lascasas Tierz, Quicena, Loporzano, Nueno, Igriés, Banastás, Chimillas, Alerre, Barbués and Albero Bajo.
The city lies 71 kilometres (44 mi) from Zaragoza, 160 kilometres (99 mi) from Pamplona, 118 kilometres (73 mi) from Lérida, 380 kilometres (236 mi) from Madrid and 273 kilometres (169 mi) from Barcelona.
Huesca has a mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), with drier summers, and wetter springs and autumns, but with some characteristics of a continental climate, such as more extreme temperatures, as the town lies in a wide basin (the Ebro basin) entirely surrounded by mountains.
The average precipitation is a scanty 550 mm. There is drought in summer. The temperatures are high in summer reaching up to 35 °C (95 °F). In winter the temperatures are to low (usually -5 to 8 °C). Frost is common and there is sporadic snowfall.
| Climate data for Huesca | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 8.5 (47.3) |
11.5 (52.7) |
15 (59) |
17.2 (63.0) |
21.2 (70.2) |
26.5 (79.7) |
30.8 (87.4) |
30.2 (86.4) |
25.5 (77.9) |
19.1 (66.4) |
12.9 (55.2) |
9.1 (48.4) |
19.0 (66.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.9 (40.8) |
7.0 (44.6) |
9.6 (49.3) |
11.4 (52.5) |
15.3 (59.5) |
19.7 (67.5) |
23.4 (74.1) |
23.3 (73.9) |
19.5 (67.1) |
14.3 (57.7) |
8.9 (48.0) |
5.6 (42.1) |
13.6 (56.5) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.3 (34.3) |
2.5 (36.5) |
4.2 (39.6) |
5.7 (42.3) |
9.3 (48.7) |
12.9 (55.2) |
16.1 (61.0) |
16.3 (61.3) |
13.5 (56.3) |
9.5 (49.1) |
4.9 (40.8) |
2.1 (35.8) |
8.2 (46.8) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 39 (1.54) |
32 (1.26) |
34 (1.34) |
53 (2.09) |
62 (2.44) |
47 (1.85) |
20 (0.79) |
38 (1.5) |
54 (2.13) |
54 (2.13) |
50 (1.97) |
51 (2.01) |
535 (21.06) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 62 |
| Sunshine hours | 131 | 169 | 220 | 245 | 265 | 298 | 339 | 310 | 241 | 197 | 144 | 113 | 2,682 |
| Source: AEMET[12] | |||||||||||||
A double line of ancient walls can still be seen in present-day Huesca.
Nearby, in the territory of Quicena, are the ruins of the Monastery-Castle of Montearagón.
Huesca is notable for the saying "Tomorrow we'll have coffee in Huesca", a running joke among militiamen of the Spanish Civil War. In February 1937, George Orwell was stationed near the falangist-held Huesca as a member of the POUM militia. In Homage to Catalonia, Orwell writes about this running joke, originally a naïvely optimistic comment made by one of the Spanish Republican generals:
Months earlier, when Siétamo was taken, the general commanding the Government troops had said gaily: "Tomorrow we'll have coffee in Huesca." It turned out that he was mistaken. There had been bloody attacks, but the town did not fall, and [the phrase] had become a standing joke throughout the army. If I ever go back to Spain I shall make a point of having a cup of coffee in Huesca.
Orwell never did, but the Indian writer Shashi Tharoor fulfilled his wish on his behalf in 1980, and has written about the experience.[13] Huesca is also famous for the legend of the Bell of Huesca.
The following are Sister cities of Huesca:[14]
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