Pamplona

Pamplona, or Pampeluna, the capital of the Spanish province of Navarre, and an episcopal see; situated 1378 ft. above sea-level, on the left bank of the Arga, a tributary of the Ebro. Pop. (1900), 28,886. Pamplona has a station on the Ebro railway connecting Alsasua with Saragossa. From its position it has always been the principal fortress of Navarre. The old outworks have been partly demolished and replaced by modern forts, while suburbs have grown up round the inner walls and bastions. The citadel, south-west of the city, was constructed by order of Philip II. (1556-1598), and was modelled on that of Antwerp. The streets of the city are regular and broad; there are three fine squares or plazas. The most attractive of these is the arcaded Plaza del Castillo, flanked by the hall of the provincial council and by the theatre. The cathedral is a late Gothic structure begun in 1397 by Charles III. (El Noble) of Navarre, who is buried within its walls; of the older Romanesque cathedral only a small portion of the cloisters remains. The fine interior is remarkable for the peculiar structure of its apse, and for the choir-stalls carved in English oak by Miguel Ancheta, a native artist (1530). The principal facade is Corinthian, from designs of Ventura Rodriguez (1783). The same architect designed the superb aqueduct by which the city is supplied with water from Monte Francoa, some nine miles off. The beautiful cloisters on the south side of the cathedral, and the chapter-house beyond them, as well as the old churches of San Saturnino (Gothic) and San Nicolas (Romanesque), are also of interest to the student of architecture. There are also the bull-ring, capable of accommodating 8000 spectators, the pelota court (el Trinquete) and several parks or gardens. The city is well provided with schools for both sexes; it has also a large hospital.

Pamplona has a flourishing agricultural trade, besides manufactures of cloth, linen stuffs, flour, soap, leather, cards, paper, earthenware, iron and nails. The yearly fair in connexion with the feast of San Fermin (July 7), the patron saint of the city, attracts a large concourse from all parts of northern Spain.

Originally a town of the Vascones, Pamplona was rebuilt in 68 B.C. by Pompey the Great, whence the name Pompaelo or Pompelo (Strabo). It was captured by Euric the Goth in 466 and by the Franks under Childebert in 542; it was dismantled by Charlemagne in 778, but repulsed the emir of Saragossa in 907. In the 14th century it was greatly strengthened and beautified by Charles III., who built a citadel on the site now occupied by. the Plaza de Toros and by the Basilica de S. Ignacio, the church marking the spot where Ignatius de Loyola received his wound in defending the place against Andre de Foix in 1521. From 1808 it was occupied by the French until taken by Wellington in 1813. In the Carlist War of 1836 -40 it was held by the Cristinos, and in 1875-76 it was more than once attacked, but never taken, by the Carlists.