Xàtiva

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Xàtiva

Xátiva from the air


Flag	Coat of Arms

Location

Coordinates : 38°59′25″N, 0°31′16″W
Time zone : CET (GMT +1)
- summer : CEST (GMT +2)

General information

Native name

Xàtiva (Valencian)

Spanish name

Játiva

Administration

Country

Spain

Autonomous Community

Valencian Community

Province

Valencia

Comarca

Costera

Geography

Land Area

76.56 km²

Altitude

115 m AMSL

Population

Population

28,474 (2006)

Density

372 hab./km² (2006)

Xàtiva (Spanish: Játiva in former days) is a town of eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways. Xàtiva is built on the margin of a fertile and beautiful plain, and on the southern slopes of the Monte Bernisa, a hill with two peaks, each surmounted by a castle Castle of Játiva. With its numerous fountains, and spacious avenues shaded with elms or cypresses, the town has a clean and attractive appearance. Its collegiate church, dating from 1414, but rebuilt about a century later in the Renaissance style, was formerly a cathedral, and is the chief among many churches and convents. The town-hall and a church on the castle hill are partly constructed of inscribed Roman masonry, and several houses date from the Moorish period. There is a brisk local trade in grain, fruit, wine, olive oil and rice. The leading football club is CD Olimpic Xàtiva

Xativa is also known as an early European center of paper manufacture. In the twelfth century, Arabs brought the technology to manufacture paper to Xativa.

Birthplace of the painter José Ribera "Spagnoletto" and of Pope Alexander VI, it suffered a dark moment in its history at the hands of Philip V of Spain, who, after his victory in the Battle of Almansa in the War of the Spanish Succession, ordered the city to be burned, changing its name to San Felipe. In memory of the insult, the portrait of the monarch hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí. ^[1]

[edit] References

^ XÀTIVA - Museo de l'Almodí

[edit] External links

Official site

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

This article about a location in the Valencian Community, Spain, is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

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L'Alcúdia de Crespins · Barxeta · Canals · Cerdà · Estubeny · La Font de la Figuera · Genovés · La Granja de la Costera · Llanera de Ranes · Llocnou d'En Fenollet · La Llosa de Ranes · Moixent/Mogente · Montesa · Novetlè/Novelé · Rotglà i Corberà · Torrella · Vallada · Vallès · Xàtiva