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Ávila, an emblem in itself
Madrid
Descripción Datos de contacto

For centuries, a town’s mark was its walls. They were its visible “face” and the emblem of its personality, determining the townspeople’s status as persons who lived either inside or outside them. Town walls also had financial consequences, such as tax payments and duties. An unconscious sediment of all that remains, causing us to consider a city’s true image as that embodied by its walls. Ávila, for example, is an emblem in itself. It is encircled by an unbroken medieval wall in the Romanesque style, making it look like a place from a legend. That’s why it has been the setting of some now classic films, like “The Pride and the Passion” (1957), with Gary Grant, Sofia Loren and Frank Sinatra; “The Black Knight” (1954), with Alan Ladd; “Chimes at Midnight” (1965), by Orson Welles; or “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (1966), by Richard Lester. Indeed, Ávila is a town that represents heritage values to perfection. It underwent an intense Romanization and subsequently became a Visigothic capital, standing on the border between Christian Spain and the Muslim kingdoms. Its wall, with nine gates, is its best known sight but another famous monument is the Shrine of the Four Posts. Its cathedral is considered to be the first one built in the Gothic style in Spain, while other attractions here are its “Lookout palaces”, which guarded the entrances to the city, and its many churches inside and outside the wall. Ávila, Europe’s best preserved walled precinct, still reminds us that, for centuries, town walls were a symbol of civilization.

Dirección
Ávila (Castilla y León)
Teléfono
920 350 000 (ext. 370)

40.656297, -4.680735

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