Alcanar () is a Spanish
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of the
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
comarca
A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...
of
Montsià
Montsià () is the southernmost comarca (county) of Catalonia in Spain. Its capital and largest city is Amposta.
History
Almost all Montsià municipalities are part of the Taula del Sénia free association or mancomunitat (commonwealth).
Munic ...
, in the
Tarragona province
Tarragona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Castellón, Teruel, Zaragoza, Lérida and Barcelona and by the Mediterranean Sea.
The province's p ...
. It is a coastal town on the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
. The
Serra del Montsià range and its foothills rise above the town and its surroundings. According to data from 2006 its population is 9,620 inhabitants, although this increased the next year, to 9,969.
It is the southernmost town in Catalonia, located just north of the border with the municipality of
Vinaròs
Vinaròs () is a city located in eastern Spain and the capital of the Baix Maestrat in the province of Castelló. It is in the border between the Valencian Country and Catalonia. Vinaròs is a fishing harbour and tourist destination.
History
T ...
which is in the province of
Castellón and part of the region of
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
.
Villages
*Alcanar, 7,494
*
Alcanar-Platja, 988
*
Les Cases d'Alcanar, 1,391
*
La Selleta, 96
History
It was not until the fifteenth century that Alcanar was incorporated as an independent town, but the town has been populated for a long time before then. From 1148 the town was part of the municipality of
Ulldecona
Ulldecona is a town in the South of Catalonia, in Montsià ( Terres de l'Ebre), near the Senia River. Ulldecona is part of the Taula del Sénia free association of municipalities. It has got town privileges since 1273.
The nearest towns are: Al ...
.
After it was granted independence, it received the name of the Canar, which originates from ''republic of its inhabitants''.
The original charter was granted in February 1239, however the stability of this settlement did not arrive until it was granted a new charter in 1252,
that date is regarded as the real foundation of the town. In 1380, the village already contained thirty families, and they were subjected to various attacks by
Saracen
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
s, which led to the construction of a
lookout tower
A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a "fire lookout" whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or ...
in the fourteenth century. As a precaution, the town was
fortified
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
and walled. In 1449, the town became independent of Ulldecona.
During the war against
John II of Castile
John II of Castile ( es, link=no, Juan; 6 March 1405 – 20 July 1454) was King of Castile and León from 1406 to 1454. He succeeded his older sister, Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon, as Prince of Asturias in 1405.
Regency
John was the ...
, the town was occupied by troops of the king, who burned the town. During the reign of
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
, various defence towers were built to cope with attacks by
Turkish pirates, and Alcanar was again fortified.
In the
Catalan Revolt of 1640-59, the town remained loyal to the king of Castile, which led to occupation of the city by Catalan troops. A similar event occurred during the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
. Later, during the
First Carlist War
The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1840, the first of three Carlist Wars. It was fought between two factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Monarchy of Spain, Spanish monarchy: the conservative a ...
, there was a siege of the city. The city was captured and looted by
Carlist
Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimists (disambiguation), Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty ...
troops who held a strong position in the town for a time.
On July 11, 1978,
a tanker truck carrying flammable liquid exploded in front of the Camping de los Alfaques located at the coast, outside the town, killing 217 people, injuring more than 300 and completely devastating the campsite.
On August 16, 2017, an explosion in a house outside of the town, at the coast kills two people and injures another. The next day, August 17, there is a second explosion. Later it would be known that those killed and wounded were terrorists and the explosion was produced by bombs that created the jihadist cell responsible for the
2017 Barcelona attacks.
Culture
The Alcanar
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
dedicated to Saint Michael (''Sant Miquel'' in Catalan or ''San Miguel'' in Spanish) is a major feature of the municipality. The church is built in the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
style, with a single nave and side chapels; it originally consisted of four bays with a semicircular apse, which disappeared in some nineteenth century rebuilding. It was then expanded with a transept, dome base and a sanctuary. It currently measures 19 metres wide and has a total height of 16 metres. The access door is a half-point arch framed by two columns, and at the top are three
niches framed by a triangular pediment. The belltower has a square base and windows on each side.
On the outskirts of the village is a shrine devoted to the
Mare de Déu del Remei (Our Lady of Good Remedy). It was built in the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth in a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style. In the eighteenth century, a belltower, a crossing and a dome were added and the interior was expanded. Next to the shrine is the building of the former guest house in which retains a mosaic that represents the
battle of Lepanto
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states (comprising Spain and its Italian territories, several independent Italian states, and the Soverei ...
. The mosaic was part of the floor of the chapel until it was removed in the early nineteenth century, and as a result is very deteriorated. The image is venerated at the shrine is a small class of about 60 centimetres of the eighteenth century. The temple interior is decorated with a series of paintings made in 1920. The former altar pieces and part of the decoration were destroyed in 1936.
![Búnquers Estanyet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/B%C3%BAnquers_Estanyet.jpg)
Along the coast are the defence towers, which were built between 1530 and 1630 to fend off pirates. They are all square, with door with
voussoir
A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.
Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...
, floor and vault. Most of them have been renovated, and are now used as houses or summer residences.
Economy and tourism
Tourism and second homes are a prominent factor in the Alcan economy. Near the Alcanar Beach, many housing developments have been built that increase the number of tourists during the summer months. One of the oldest summer residences is known as
Clos de Codorniu, and once was home to King
Alfonso XIII of Spain
Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alf ...
. It also has several hotels and campsites and other facilities designed to cater to tourism.
Most tourists stay at the old and relatively quiet fishing village of
Les Cases d'Alcanar or in
Alcanar-Platja during the summer season.
The small settlement of
La Selleta was built by
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
s on a hill below the Serra del Montsià in the last half of the 20th century.
[La Selleta - ein deutsches Dorf in Spanien. Baumeister 5/1977. München]
Agricultural activity continues to develop in the northern town, the furthest from the coast, mainly growing crops of
oranges
An orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae (see list of plants known as orange); it primarily refers to ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', which is also called sweet orange, to distinguish it from the related ''Citrus × ...
and
clementine
A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who fir ...
s. Fishing remains important in Alcanar's smaller villages, and they are especially dedicated to catching
prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
s.
The
Port of Alcanar is a facility serving the
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
plant on the southside of the town.
See also
*
Los Alfaques Disaster
The Los Alfaques disaster was a tanker explosion that occurred near a holiday campsite on Tuesday July 11, 1978 in Alcanar, Spain. The exploding truck, which was carrying 23-tons of a highly flammable Liquefied petroleum gas called propylene, ...
References
External links
Town Hall WebpageGovernment data pages
{{Authority control
Municipalities in Montsià
Populated places in Montsià