Xàtiva

Xàtiva
Municipality
Xàtiva
View of Xàtiva
Flag Coat of arms
Xàtiva Location in Spain
Coordinates: 38°59′25″N 0°31′16″W / 38.99028°N 0.52111°W / 38.99028; -0.52111
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Valencian Community
Province	Valencia
Comarca	Costera
Judicial district	Xàtiva
Government
• Mayor	Alfonso Rus Terol (2007) (PP)
Area
• Total	76.60 km2 (29.58 sq mi)
Elevation	115 m (377 ft)
Population (2009)
• Total	29,386
• Density	380/km2 (990/sq mi)
Demonym	Setabense
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	46800
Official language(s)	Valencian
Website	Official website

Xàtiva (Valencian pronunciation: [ˈʃativa], Spanish: Játiva [ˈxatiβa], Arabic: شاطبة‎) is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right (western) bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways. During the Al-Andalus Islamic era, Arabs brought the technology to manufacture paper to Xàtiva. In the 12th century, Xàtiva was known for its schools, education, and learning circles. Islamic scholar Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi's last name refers to Xàtiva where he lived and died. ^[1]

History

Collegiate church.

Xàtiva (Saetabis in Latin) was famous in Roman times for its linen fabrics, mentioned by the Latin poets Ovid and Catullus. Xàtiva is also known as an early European center of paper manufacture. In the 12th century, Arabs brought the technology to manufacture paper to Xàtiva.

It is the birthplace of two popes, Callixtus III and Alexander VI, and also the painter José Ribera (Lo Spagnoletto). It suffered a dark moment in its history at the hands of Philip V of Spain, who, after his victory at the Battle of Almansa during the War of the Spanish Succession, ordered the city to be burned. The name was changed to San Felipe. In memory of the insult, the portrait of the monarch hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí.^[2]

Xàtiva was briefly a provincial capital under the short-lived 1822 territorial division of Spain,^[3] during the Trienio Liberal. The Province of Játiva was revoked with the return to absolutism in 1823.

Main sights

Xàtiva is built on the margin of a fertile plain, and on the southern slopes of the Monte Bernisa, a hill with two peaks, each surmounted by a Castle of Xàtiva.

Its Collegiate Basilica, dating from 1414, but rebuilt about a century later in the Renaissance style, was formerly a cathedral, and is the chief among many churches and convents. The town-hall and a church on the castle hill are partly constructed of inscribed Roman masonry, and several houses date from the Moorish period.

Other sights include:

• the Royal Monastery of the Assumption, Gothic and Baroque style, built during the 14th century and renovated in the 16th–18th centuries.
• Natal house of the Pope Alexander VI.
• Church of St. Felix (13th century)
• Church of St. Peter (14th century). The interior has a coffer decorated in Gothic-Mudéjar style.
• Hermitage of Santa Ana (15th century), in Gothic style
• Almodí, a 14th-century Gothic edifice (1530–1548) now housing a Museum

Gallery

• 

  thumb|Drawing by Anton van den Wyngaerde in 1563, commissioned by King Philip II of Spain.

• 

  Portrait of Philip V of Spain exhibited upside down in the Museum of Almodí (es)

References

See also

• Route of the Borgias

External links

• Official website

Media related to Xàtiva at Wikimedia Commons

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press 

v t e Municipalities of Costera L'Alcúdia de Crespins Barxeta Canals Cerdà Estubeny La Font de la Figuera Genovés La Granja de la Costera Llanera de Ranes Llocnou d'En Fenollet La Llosa de Ranes Moixent/Mogente Montesa Novetlè/Novelé Rotglà i Corberà Torrella Vallada Vallès Xàtiva