Ciutadella de Menorca () or simply Ciutadella is a town and a

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 ...

in the western end of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

, one of the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

(Spain). It is one of the two primary cities in the island, along with Maó.

History

It was founded by the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

, and became the seat of a bishop in the 4th century. After being governed by the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

under the names of ''Medīna el Jezīra'' ( ar, مدينة الجزيرة) and ''Medīna Menūrqa'' (مدينة منورقة) for several centuries, Ciutadella was recaptured during the

reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

by men serving Alfonso III and became part of the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...

. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, it became an important trading center. On 9 July 1558, the Turks under

Piyale Pasha Piali Pasha, ( tr, Piyale Paşa; hu, Piali pasa) (c. 1515–1578) was an Ottoman Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) between 1553 and 1567, and a Vizier (minister) after 1568. He is also known as Piale Pasha in English. Early life His exact place ...

and

Turgut Reis Dragut ( tr, Turgut Reis) (1485 – 23 June 1565), known as "The Drawn Sword of Islam", was a Muslim Ottoman naval commander, governor, and noble, of Turkish or Greek descent. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended ...

with a powerful Turkish Armada of 140 ships and 15,000 soldiers, put the town under siege for eight days entered and decimated the town. The town was defended by only a few hundred men. All of Ciutadella's 3,099 inhabitants who survived the

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

were taken as slaves to Turkey together with other inhabitants of surrounding villages. In total, 3,452 residents were sold into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in the slave markets of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

(

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. An obelisk was set up in the 19th century by Josep Quadrado in the Plaza d'es Born in memory of the offensive, with the following inscription: Every year on July 9, a commemoration takes place in Ciutadella, remembering "l’Any de sa Desgràcia", or "the Year of the Disaster".Balears Cultural Tour

Geography and climate

Ciutadella de Menorca has a

Hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: Csa) with mild, somewhat humid winters and dry, hot summers. Autumn is the wettest season and heavy rain is not rare during this season.

Religion

Despite no longer being Menorca's capital, Ciutadella has remained the island's religious center as the Bishop refused to move. The festival of Saint John, its patron saint, takes place each year on 23 and 24 of June. The

Cathedral of Menorca The Cathedral Basilica of Ciutadella de Menorca is a Roman Catholic church in Ciutadella de Menorca, in the island of Menorca, in Balearic Islands, Spain. It was constructed on the orders of King Alfonso III of Aragon "the Liberal", the conquero ...

, located in the old quarter of Ciutadella, was built in 1287 on the foundation of an older

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

Main sites

In the 17th century, many of Ciutadella's civil and religious buildings were built in the Italian style and gave it a historical and artistic unity. Ciutadella's town hall is the former palace of the Arab governor and later served as a royal palace under the

and again as a governor's palace until the British moved the capital to the eastern town of Mahon in 1722. Punta Nati Lighthouse is located due north of Ciutadella.

Notable people

* Aina Moll Marquès (1930-2019), philologist and politician

Sister cities

Córdoba, Spain Córdoba (; ),, Arabic: قُرطبة DIN 31635, DIN: . or Cordova () in English, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the Province of Córdoba (Spain), province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated Municipalities in Spain, mun ...

, Spain *

Oristano Oristano (; sc, Aristanis ) is an Italian city and ''comune'', and capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the pr ...

, Italy, since 1991 * Long Beach Island, New Jersey, United States, since 2012

Notes

Municipalities in Menorca Populated places in Menorca {{Balearics-geo-stub