Singeing the King of Spain's Beard

Cádiz (, US also , Spanish: [ˈkaðiθ]) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Southern Europe, was founded by the Phoenicians. In the 18th century, the Port in the Bay of Cádiz consolidated as the main harbor of mainland Spain, enjoying the virtual monopoly of trade with the Americas until 1778. It is also the site of the University of Cádiz. Situated on a narrow slice of land surrounded by the sea‚ Cádiz is, in most respects, a typically Andalusian city with well-preserved historical landmarks. The older part of Cádiz, within the remnants of the city walls, is commonly referred to as the Old Town (Spanish: Casco Antiguo), and represents a large area of the total size of the city . It is characterized by the antiquity of its various quarters (barrios), among them El Pópulo, La Viña, and Santa María, which present a marked contrast to the newer areas of town. While the Old City's street plan consists of narrow winding alleys connecting large plazas, newer areas of Cádiz typically have wide avenues and more modern buildings. In addition, the city is dotted with numerous parks where exotic plants flourish, including giant trees allegedly brought to Spain by Columbus from the New World.

The Museum of Cadiz is a museum located in Cádiz, Spain. It was founded in 1970 after the merger of the Provincial Museum of Fine Arts with the Provincial Museum of Archaeology. It is on three floors, archaeology on the ground floor, art on the first, and puppets on the second floor. Entry is free for citizens of the European Union.The origin of the museum came in 1835, when art was confiscated from a monastery, including paintings by Zurbarán taken from the Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera. Other paintings included the works of Murillo and Rubens. The collection grew during the century, due to the city's Academy of Fine Arts which practised romanticism and neoclassicism. In 1877, after a Phoenician sarcophagus was found in the city's shipyard, the Archaeological Museum was founded. However, it was not until 1970 that the two institutes, despite sharing the same building, were merged. From 1980, the architect Javier Feduchi planned a reform of the building in three phases, of which two have been completed.In addition to the 19th-century pieces, the art museum has received contemporary art from the Junta de Andalucía. Its archaeological section has also received donations, particularly of coins. Despite a range of prehistoric findings from Southern Andalusia, due to local history, it has a lack of artefacts from the Middle Ages. The "Tía Norica" set of puppets, used at the Carnival of Cádiz, was acquired by the State.

The Oratorio de la Santa Cueva is a church composed of two chapels, one superimposed above the other, adjacent to the Holy Rosary church in Cádiz. It was restored by the Veracruz-born priest, Don José Sáenz de Santa María, who also commissioned Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ for performance in the lower chapel.

The Church of Oratorio de San Felipe Neri (Spanish: Iglesia del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri) is a church built between 1685 and 1719, located in Cádiz, Spain. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1907.

The Monument to the Constitution of 1812 is a monument in Cádiz, Spain that commemorates the centennial of the signing of the Constitution of 1812. The monument, commissioned in 1912 and completed in 1929, is located in the centre of the Plaza de España in Cádiz.

The Gran Teatro Falla is a theater in the city of Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain. It is located in the Plaza Fragela, facing the Casa de las Viudas and adjacent to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Cádiz. Construction of the theater began in 1884, following plans by architect Adolfo Morales de los Ríos. It was based on the foundation of the previous Gran Teatro de Cádiz, a wooden building designed by García del Álamo and built in 1871, but which had burned in 1881. In 1886 the city government took over direction of the project, which proceeded only intermittently due to lack of funds. The theater was completed in 1905. Municipal architect Juan Cabrera de la Torre made significant modifications to Morales's original plans. The theater was known as the "Gran Teatro" until 1926 when it was renamed for composer and native son Manuel de Falla. Built in the Neo-Mudéjar style, it is made of red brick, and has three grand horseshoe arch entry doorways on its principal façade, with alternating red and white voussoirs. One enters through these doors into a large vestibule, which was redesigned in the 1920s. Stairways ascend to the horseshoe or "U"-shaped galleries above. The stage is 18 metres (59 ft) wide and 25.5 metres (84 ft) deep. The ceiling shows an allegory of Paradise, the work of Felipe Abarzuza y Rodríguez de Arias. Every February the Gran Teatro Falla is the site of the artistic competitions of the Carnival of Cádiz. During repairs and restoration from 1987 to 1991, those competitions were held instead at the now-defunct Teatro Andalucía. Through the rest of the year, the theater hosts all manner of shows, such as plays or concerts.

The siege of Cádiz was a siege of the large Spanish naval base of Cádiz by a French army from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812 during the Peninsular War. Following the occupation of Seville, Cádiz became the Spanish seat of power, and was targeted by 70,000 French troops under the command of the Marshals Claude Victor and Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult for one of the most important sieges of the war. Defending the city were 2,000 Spanish troops who, as the siege progressed, received aid from 10,000 Spanish reinforcements as well as British and Portuguese troops. During the siege, which lasted two and a half years, the Cortes of Cádiz – which served as a parliamentary Regency after Ferdinand VII was deposed – drew up a new constitution to reduce the strength of the monarchy, which was eventually revoked by Fernando VII when he returned. In October 1810, a mixed Anglo-Spanish relief force embarked on a disastrous landing at Fuengirola. A second relief attempt was made at Tarifa in 1811. However, despite defeating a detached French force of 15,000–20,000 under Marshal Victor at the Battle of Barrosa, the siege was not lifted. In 1812, the Battle of Salamanca eventually forced the French troops to retreat from Andalusia, for fear of being cut off by the Coalition armies. The French defeat contributed decisively to the liberation of Spain from French occupation, due to the survival of the Spanish government and the use of Cádiz as a jump-off point for the Coalition forces.

The University of Cádiz (in Spanish: Universidad de Cádiz), commonly referred to as UCA, is a public university located in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain, noted for its medicine and marine sciences curricula. It was founded in 1979, and has the Latin motto Non Plus Ultra ("No Further Beyond"). Its headquarters are located in Cádiz, where the Rectorate is. During the 2007/2008 academic year, there were 17,280 students, 1698 lecturers, and 680 administration and services workers associated with the university.

The Jardín Botánico de Cádiz was an eighteenth-century example of a botanical garden for the study of medicine located in Cádiz, Spain. It was founded by Pedro Virgili, director of the Royal College of Surgeons of the Navy (now part of the University of Cádiz). Virgili set about acquiring the site for the garden on April 22, 1749, shortly after the foundation of the Royal College. The plants were grouped according to their medicinal use in order to help the students apply their knowledge of botany in a medical context. José Celestino Mutis, who was one of the first students at the college, went on to become a famous botanist. Botanical gardens are named after him in Colombia and Spain.

The Church of the Holy Cross (Spanish: Iglesia de la Santa Cruz) is a Roman Catholic church in the Spanish city of Cádiz. It was the cathedral of the Diocese of Cádiz y Ceuta between 1602 and 1838, when the new Cádiz Cathedral was completed.Originally built in 1262 after the conquest of the city by Alfonso X, it was completely rebuilt by 1602 after the first building was burned down by a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet commanded by Admiral Edward Howard, who sacked Cádiz in 1596.

Cádiz Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral de Cádiz, Catedral de Santa Cruz de Cádiz) is a Roman Catholic church in Cádiz, southern Spain, and the seat of the Diocese of Cadiz y Ceuta. It was built between 1722 and 1838. The cathedral was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1931.The Plaza de la Catedral houses both the Cathedral and the Baroque Santiago church, built in 1635. The church was known as "The Cathedral of The Americas" because it was built with money from the trade between Spain and America. The 18th century was a golden age for Cádiz, and the other cathedral that the city had got, Santa Cruz, was very small for this new moment of Cádiz. The new cathedral was built from 1722 to 1838. The first person who designed the church was architect Vicente Acero, who had also built the Granada Cathedral. Acero left the project and was succeeded by several other architects. As a result, this largely baroque-style cathedral was built over a period of 116 years, and, due to this drawn-out period of construction, the cathedral underwent several major changes to its original design. Though the cathedral was originally intended to be a baroque edifice, it contains rococo elements, and was finally completed in the neoclassical style. Its chapels have many paintings and relics from the old cathedral and monasteries from throughout Spain. In the crypt are buried the composer Manuel de Falla and the poet and playwright José María Pemán, both born in Cádiz. Levante Tower, one of the towers of Cádiz Cathedral, is open to the public and shows panoramas of the city from on high.

The Roman Catholic diocese of Cádiz y Ceuta is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Seville.Its jurisdiction covers the civil province of Cádiz south to Guadalete river. Includes the comarcas Campo de Gibraltar, La Janda and Bahía de Cádiz except most of Puerto de Santa María which is north to the mentioned Guadalete river and so belongs to diocese of Jerez de la Frontera. Valdelagrana neighbourhood of El Puerto de Santa María, as it south the River also is included in Cádiz diocese. It also covers the Spanish Autónomous City of Ceuta. Cádiz is the residence of the bishop.