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A Coruña

A Coruña (Galician: koˈɾuɲɐ] ; Spanish: La Coruña [la koˈɾuɲa] ;[a] also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo.[5] The city is the provincial capital of the province of A Coruña, having also served as political capital of the Kingdom of Galicia[6][7] from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and as a regional administrative centre between 1833 and 1982.

"Corunna" redirects here. For other uses, see A Coruña (disambiguation) and Corunna (disambiguation).

A Coruña
La Coruña (Spanish)

 Spain

A Coruña, Elviña, Oza, San Cristovo das Viñas, Visma

Concello da Coruña

37.83 km2 (14.61 sq mi)

247,604

6,613/km2 (17,130/sq mi)

431,332

corunnan (en)
coruñéscoruñesa  (gl / es)

€25.231 billion (2020)

CET (GMT +1)

CEST (GMT +2)

15001-15011

+34 981 and +34 881

A Coruña is located on a promontory in the Golfo Ártabro, a large gulf on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the main industrial and financial centre of northern Galicia, and holds the headquarters of the Universidade da Coruña. A Coruña is the Spanish city featuring the tallest mean-height of buildings,[8] also featuring a population density of 21,972 inhabitants per square kilometre (56,910/sq mi) of built land area.[9]

Name[edit]

Origin[edit]

There is no clear evidence as to what the name derives from. It seems to be from Crunia, of unknown origin and meaning, documented for the first time at the time of Ferdinand II of León (reigned 1157–1188). As usual in Galician-Portuguese (as well as in Castilian Spanish), the cluster ni naturally evolved into the sound [ɲ], written n, nn or nh in old Galician orthography, nn in Spanish (later abbreviated to ñ, like the original Latin cluster "nn"), and nh in Portuguese and alternative Galician spelling. "A" is the Galician-Portuguese article equivalent to English the; compare Castilian Spanish la ("the").


One proposed etymology derives Crunia from Cluny, the town in France. During its height (c. 950 – c. 1130) the Cluniac religious movement became very prominent in Europe. There is another town named Coruña in Burgos Province.


A more likely possibility is that the name simply means "The Crown", which in Galician is A Coroa and in Spanish is La Corona. It seems less likely that it traces back to the Galician clunia. The name is reputedly from the Greek Κορώνα (Crown), referring to the crown of Geryon that was buried by Hercules under the lighthouse he built to his honour. The hero Hercules slew the giant tyrant Geryon after three days and three nights of continuous battle. Hercules then—in a Celtic gesture—buried the head of Geryon with his weapons and ordered that a city be built on the site. The lighthouse atop a skull and crossbones representing the buried head of Hercules' slain enemy appears in the coat-of-arms of the city of A Coruña, Loukeris (2019).[10][11]


A proxy evolution within the Portuguese language points out to the Latin word Colonya as its origin, where the L was transformed into R which occurs widely in Portuguese. A similar happening can be found today in Coronie, a Surinamese town which also made its course outside the Portuguese system.


A folk etymology incorrectly derives Coruña from the ancient columna, or Tower of Hercules.

Use[edit]

In English, use of the Spanish or Galician forms now predominates. However, the traditional English form Corunna /kəˈrʌnə/ is still often used in the UK, particularly in reference to the Battle of Corunna (1809) in the Peninsular War. Archaically, English-speakers knew the city as "The Groyne", probably from French La Corogne.[12] In Spain, the official form of the name is now the Galician one: "A Coruña", though many Spaniards continue to use "La Coruña". Despite this, "La Coruña" is in a constant decline, in favor of the official and historical form "A Coruña".[13]

Population[edit]

The province and city of A Coruña during the 20th century[edit]

After the War of Independence (1808–1814), the fortunes of Ferrol began to deteriorate. The largest port in northern Spain, site of the Reales Astilleros de Esteiro, one of the three Royal Royal Dockyards together with Cartagena and Cádiz, almost became a "dead" town during the reign of Ferdinand VII. By 1833 the City and Naval Station of Ferrol saw its civilian population reduced to 13,000.[22][23] During the administration of the marquess of Molina, Minister for Naval affairs in the mid-19th century new activities sprang up, but Ferrol never fully returned to its former glory. During those years, most of the Spanish colonies in Latin America succeeded in gaining independence from their former metropolis.

María Pita Square, the most important square in the city. Notable landmarks are the City Hall and the statue of the local heroine . Nearby you can also find Church of Saint George, where first same-sex marriage in Spain took place between Elisa and Marcela in 1901, which is the basis for the movie of the same name.

Maria Pita

Mount of San Pedro Park, a former military area, with views over the city and the . Visitors can arrive by road or using an elevator from the promenade. It has a café, play areas, gardens and three restored artillery pieces.

ria

The promenade (Paseo Marítimo) is nine kilometres (5.6 miles) long, one of the largest in Europe. It runs around the city's headland, passing sights such as its Aquarium, the and the Tower of Hercules. There used to be a functioning touristic tramway, opened between 1997 and 2002, which ceased operations after a derailment in 2011.[27]

Estadio Riazor

In the summertime, the Orzán and Riazor beaches are immensely popular destinations, located directly opposite of the port in the central part of the city. During María Pita festivity, which takes place all through August, Riazor is the venue of Noroeste Pop Rock Festival, a free music festival with groups from Spain and abroad (, David Bisbal, Joe Cocker or Status Quo have played on it in last editions). Other beaches in the city smaller than Orzan and Riazor are As Lapas down Hercules Tower, O Matadoiro next to Orzan, San Amaro and Oza.

Amaral

Politics[edit]

Domingos Rafael Merino Mexuto was the first mayor after the Spanish Constitution of 1978 for the PSG party (he is now in the BNG party), and he currently works at the Galician Ombudsman's (Valedor) office.


Francisco Vázquez Vázquez from the PSOE became mayor of the city in 1983; however, on becoming the Spanish ambassador to the Vatican, he was replaced by Javier Losada on 10 February 2006.


The mayor between 2015 and 2019 was Xulio Ferreiro, from the Marea Atlántica ("Atlantic Tide") party, who was largely elected in 2015 on an anti-corruption mandate. One of his main priorities was to reverse some of the very worst examples of town planning policy which has left a negative legacy in many areas of the city and its immediate suburbs.


The current mayor is Inés Rey of PSdeG-PSOE.

María Mayor Fernández de Cámara y Pita (born in Cambre, 1565–1643), a heroine of the defence of A Coruña in 1589 against the English Armada

Maria Pita

(1798–1871), botany teacher, philosopher and social economist

Ramón Dionisio José de la Sagra y Peris

(1850-1928), poet and Rexurdimento activist

Evaristo Martelo Paumán

(1851–1921), novelist, journalist, essayist and critic

Emilia Pardo Bazán

(1856–1921), lawyer and politician

Eduardo Dato Iradier

(1869–1968), writer

Ramón Menéndez Pidal

(1852–1932), pianist and composer

Eugenia Osterberger

(1881–1973), artist, lived here for four years in the 1890s

Pablo Picasso

(1884–1950), lawyer and politician

Santiago Casares Quiroga

(1885–1964), narrator and journalist

Wenceslao Fernández Flórez

(1880-1948) scientist and teacher fought for the education and inclusion of women into the scientific community in Spain

Celia Brañas

(1896–1978), writer and poet

Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo

(1907–1994), communist politician and military general

Enrique Líster

(1909–1928), Spain's first professional woman footballer

Irene González Basanta

(1917–1994), better known as Fernando Rey, actor

Fernando Casado Arambillet

(1918–2001), film director

Amando de Ossorio

(1920–2009), first woman president of a bank in Spain

Carmela Arias y Díaz de Rábago

(1922–1996), actress

María Casares

(born 1929), long-time valet to U.S. president Richard Nixon.

Manolo Sanchez

(born 1935), football player and manager

Luis Suárez Miramontes

(born 1936 in Castilla y León), founder of fashion brand Zara (clothing)

Amancio Ortega

(1939–2023), football player

Amancio Amaro Varela

(born 1948), former president of the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia

Emilio Pérez Touriño

(born 1957), writer, poet, essayist and journalist

Manuel Rivas Barros

(born 1959), basketball player

Fernando Romay

(born 1966), actress

María Pujalte

(born 1966), singer

Marta Sánchez

(born 1968), incumbent Minister of Economy and former director-general for Budget of the European Union

Nadia Calviño

(born 1969), athlete

Andrés Manuel Díaz

(born 1986), actor

Mario Casas

(born 1988), football player for Deportivo de La Coruña

Lucas Pérez

first Galician and fifth Spanish agricultural engineer

María Luisa Pérez-Soba

(born 2001), musician, known for his 2022 song "Si No Estás"

Iñigo Quintero

Brest, France

France

Cádiz, Spain

Spain

Caracas, Venezuela

Venezuela

Mar del Plata, Argentina

Argentina

Mariglianella, Italy

Italy

Limerick, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Recife, Brazil

Brazil

Celtic nations

Celts

Ethnic groups in Europe

Galician music

Galician nationalism

Galician people

Galician wine

Modern Celts

Timeline of Galician history

(Camino de Santiago)

Way of St. James

Concello da Coruña

Tourism Office website for A Coruña (Turismo Coruña – Town Council)

Tourism website for A Coruña (TurGalicia – Regional Tourism Office)

Tourism website – Travel Guide for A Coruña (TurEspaña – National Tourism Office)

Pinocho in A Coruña: An illustrated guidebook to A Coruña