Old Town Ávila and Churches
This is also preliminary research for making pop-up cards. Next time, I plan to create cards featuring buildings in Ávila, Spain.
Ávila is a city located about 87 km west of Madrid, at an elevation of approximately 1,100 meters. It is known that ancient Romans established a city here, which flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries.
The Iberian Peninsula came under Muslim rule from the early 8th century, leading to ongoing conflict between Muslims and Christians until around the 15th century.
Ávila fell under Muslim control in 714.
Christians reclaimed Ávila in the late 11th century, and construction of the city walls is said to have begun around 1090 (though some theories date it to the 12th century). The city walls, constructed over a period lasting until around the 14th century, are considered among the best preserved in Spain.
Old Town and City Walls. (Photo from the UNESCO official website.)
The land enclosed by the 2,516-meter-long city walls is roughly rectangular, covering an area of 31 hectares inside. The walls are reportedly 12 meters high on average and 3 meters thick. As seen in the photo, over 80 semicircular towers were built and connected by stone walls. The city walls feature nine gates serving as entrances and exits.
Construction of the cathedral also began around the early 12th century (though there are differing opinions on the exact date). By the 16th and 17th centuries, some churches and monasteries had been built both inside and outside the city walls.
The old town inside the city walls and the churches and monasteries outside were designated a World Heritage Site in 1985 under the name “Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches.”
I’ve marked the churches designated as World Heritage Sites on a map.
Note that not all were designated in 1985; some churches outside the walls were added in 2007.
I plan to select some of these churches to create pop-up cards. I haven’t decided which buildings to feature yet, but I’ll post them on the site once completed.
…It’s a problem that unless I declare I’m going to make the cards like this, the actual creation never progresses.
[Reference]
"Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches“ (UNESCO official website)