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Álava

Pages with Basque IPAPages with Spanish IPAPages with non-numeric formatnum argumentsWine regions of SpainÁlava
Alava in Spain
Alava in Spain

Álava (IPA: [ˈalaβa] in Spanish) or Araba (Basque pronunciation: [aˈɾaba]), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its capital city, Vitoria-Gasteiz, is also the seat of the political main institutions of the Basque Autonomous Community. It borders the Basque provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa to the north, the community of La Rioja to the south, the province of Burgos (in the community of Castile and León) to the west and the community of Navarre to the east. The Enclave of Treviño, surrounded by Alavese territory, is however part of the province of Burgos, thus belonging to the autonomous community of Castile and León, not Álava. It is the largest of the three provinces in the Basque Autonomous Community in geographical terms, with 3,037 km2, but also the least populated with 331,700 inhabitants (2019).

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Álava (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Álava
Bidegana kalea/Calle Bidegana, Vitoria-Gasteiz

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Wikipedia: ÁlavaContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.8445 ° E -2.7603333333333 °
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Address

Bidegana kalea/Calle Bidegana 3
01015 Vitoria-Gasteiz (Margarita)
Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain
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Alava in Spain
Alava in Spain
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Nearby Places

Iruña-Veleia
Iruña-Veleia

Veleia was a Roman town in Hispania, now located in the province of Álava, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. The site is located in the municipality of Iruña de Oca, 10 kilometers west of Vitoria. The town was an important station on the Roman road ab Asturica Burdigalam that ran parallel to the coast of the Bay of Biscay. At its apogee, the city could have been inhabited by some five to ten thousand people, and apparently went through different cycles of prosperity and decline into the Early Middle Ages until it was finally abandoned. It has been argued (e.g. J.M.Lacarra) that the location of Iruña is actually the Victoriacum founded by Liuvigild in his campaigns against the Vascones (581), since only a very small portion of the actual town has been unearthed so far by archaeologists. The archaeological site of Iruña-Veleia is the most important from the Roman period in the Basque Country. It was alleged to contain the oldest known texts written in the Basque language as well as, allegedly, the oldest representation of the crucifixion of Jesus found to date, but later it was said that the findings were forgeries. Other authors favored their genuinely ancient provenance, in agreement with the stratigraphic dating performed by the archaeologists who made the discoveries. In June 2020 the archaeologist who had made the claims, Eliseo Gil, was pronounced guilty of fraud and connivance with an external collaborator in presenting a false report. The court ruled that the pieces had been altered “by himself or through third persons with contemporary incisions to simulate that they contained inscriptions of the same ancient age as the objects in which they were engraved and that they possessed a historical and cultural value of which they were devoid.”. The verdict was appealed by Gil, but the appeal was dismissed. Subsequently, Gil filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court. In parallel to the court developments, a scholarly controversy on the authenticity of the inscriptions is taking place.