Haro () is a town and municipality in the northwest of
La Rioja
La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...
province in northern
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. It produces red wine, and hosts the annual
Haro Wine Festival
The Haro Wine Festival is a summer festival in the town of Haro, La Rioja, Haro, La Rioja, Spain. It features a Batalla de Vino (Battle of Wine) and youth bullfights. It is considered a “Festival of International Tourist Interest” and, the ...
. Its architectural heritage includes the
plateresque
Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance ...
main entrance of the
Church of Santo Tomás, the work of Felipe Vigarny, numerous palaces, and the old town, which was declared a
Historic-Artistic Site in 1975.
Haro was the first town in Spain to have electric street lighting.
History
There are several theories about the founding of Haro, though the most realistic theory is that of Domingo Hergueta, who argued that before the town, there was a lighthouse ( es, faro) near the village of Cerro de la Mota which illuminated the mouth of the Ebro river. The town was named for the lighthouse, and ''Faro'' later evolved into ''Haro''.
During the Roman rule of Hispania, a fort called Castrum Bibilium was built in the cliffs of Bibilio. The first mention of Haro dates back to the year 1040, in a document of king
García Sánchez III of Navarre
García or Garcia may refer to:
People
* García (surname)
* Kings of Pamplona/Navarre
** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882
** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970
** García Sánchez II of P ...
"el de Nájera".
Alfonso VI of León and Castile
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsul ...
entrusted the
tenencia
In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as op ...
to
Diego López I de Haro
Diego López I de Haro (died 1124×6) was the third Lord of Biscay, and also the ruler of Álava, Buradón, Grañón, Nájera, Haro, and perhaps Guipúzcoa: the most powerful Castilian magnate in the Basque Country and the Rioja during the f ...
after the death of Count
García Ordóñez and the first of the
lords of Biscay
The Lordship of Biscay ( es, Señorío de Vizcaya, Basque: ''Bizkaiko jaurerria'') was a region under feudal rule in the region of Biscay in the Iberian Peninsula between 1040 and 1876, ruled by a political figure known as the Lord of Biscay. One ...
to attach the name of this town to his patronymic was Diego's son,
Lope Díaz I de Haro
Lope Díaz I de Haro (''c''. 1105 – 6 May 1170) was the fourth Lord of Biscay (from at least 1162). He was an important magnate in Castile during the reign of the Emperor Alfonso VII and in the kingdom of his son and grandson. Between 1147 an ...
.
Since the early 19th century Haro has established a worldwide reputation for being the most important wine town in the Rioja wine region and remains so today even though the number of Bodegas in the region have multiplied 8 times to 574 during the past 50 years (1970 to 2020). The key focus of this reputation is at the Barrio Estación where 7 of the best Rioja Bodegas are located - namely Bodegas Bilbainas (founded 1859); Compañia Vinícola del Norte de España
VNE
In aviation, V-speeds are standard terms used to define airspeeds important or useful to the operation of all aircraft. These speeds are derived from data obtained by aircraft designers and manufacturers during flight testing for aircraft type- ...
f.1879; R. López de Heredia (f 1877); Bodegas Roda (f 1989); Bodegas Muga (f.1932); Bodegas La Rioja Alta S.A. (f.1890). In other parts of the town are Bodegas Martnez Lacuesta (f.1873); Bodega Berceo (f.1801); Carlos Serres (f.1896) and Ramon Bilbao (f.1924). Féderico Paaternina was founded in 1897 and became a very influential name in the wine business in Spain until its final collapse in 2010 when the Bodega closed and the brand of Banda Azul was sold to Berberana following a very difficult period after the appropriation of their owners Rumasa in 1983 by the new Spanish Government and the failure of the subsequent owner to keep the company as a going concern.(1)
[Wines of Spain by Jeremy Watson published 2002 by Editores Montagud of Barcelona. The New Spain of John Radford published by Faber in 1992 and Rioja by Ana Fabiano published in 2012.]
Notable people
*
Manuel Risco
Juan Manuel Martínez Ugarte (1 June 1735 – 30 April 1801), known as Manuel Risco or Padre Risco, was a Spanish historian. Born at Haro, he took the Augustinian habit at the Convento de Nuestra Señora del Risco in the Diocese of Ávila. He ...
(1735-1801), historian
*
Manuel Bartolomé Cossío
Manuel Bartolomé Cossío (22 February 1857 – 2 September 1935) was a Spanish art historian and Krausist teacher. Born in Haro, La Rioja, he entered the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, where he was the godson and favourite pupil of Francisco ...
(1857-1935), educator
*
Lucrecia Arana (1871-1927), singer
*
José María Mazón Sainz
José María Mazón Sainz (1901-1981) was a Spanish lawyer and a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist politician. In the early 1930s he was active within Carlism and rose to party leader in the :es:Provincia de Logroño, province of Logroño. En ...
(1901-1981), politician
*
Eduardo Fajardo
Eduardo Martínez Fajardo (14 August 1924 – 4 July 2019) was a Spanish film actor born in Meis (Pontevedra), Spain. He appeared in 183 films, 75 plays and made 2,000 television appearances between 1947 and 2002.
Biography
He was born in ...
(1924-2019), actor
*
Luis de la Fuente Castillo (born 1961), footballer
*
Ana Ibáñez Llorente (born 1981), TV personality
See also
*
House of Haro
The House of Haro was one of the most powerful families of Castile during the Middle Ages and strongly supported the expansionist policies of Alfonso VI of Castile. As a reward, Íñigo López was named the first Lord of Biscay.
In the early 16t ...
*
Tempranillo
Tempranillo (also known as Ull de Llebre, Cencibel, Tinto Fino and Tinta del Pais in Spain, Aragonez or Tinta Roriz in Portugal, and several other synonyms elsewhere) is a black grape variety widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its ...
*
Rioja wine
References
External links
Ayuntamiento de Haro
{{authority control
Municipalities in La Rioja (Spain)