Béjar
Municipality in Castile and León, Spain From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Béjar (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbexaɾ]) is a town and municipality of Spain located in the province of Salamanca, autonomous community of Castile and León. As of 2018, it had a population of 12,961. The historical development of the town has been linked to its once thriving textile manufacturing industry.
Béjar | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Béjar  Béjar | |
| Coordinates: 40°23′N 5°46′W | |
| Country | Spain |
| Autonomous community | Castile and León |
| Province | Salamanca |
| Area | |
| • Total | 46 km2 (18 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 959 m (3,146 ft) |
| Population (2018)[2] | |
| • Total | 12,961 |
| • Density | 280/km2 (730/sq mi) |
| Demonym | bejarano |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 37700 |
| Dialing code | 923 |
| Website | www |
Béjar was founded towards October–November 1208 and it was presumably granted a fuero afterwards.[3] It was originally placed to the south of the current settlement, but the population relocated to its current location in the first half of the 14th century.[3] Featuring a cattle-based economy, the town sustained a quick early growth.[3] Over the rest of the middle ages, the town passed several times from a royal demesne to seigneurial lordship and vice versa.[3] The town saw its fuero ratified in 1333.[3] Béjar celebrated an eight-day long medieval fair every year.[4] The town enjoyed from availability to plenty of wood resources, hydropower and sheep flocks.[5]
The arrival to power of the Zúñiga family after 1396 favoured the installment of numerous courtiers and servants, who increased the demand for clothing products.[6] Cloth-making boomed in the late-17th century.[7] The Ducal House of Béjar brought Flemish artisans to update the wool manufacturing techniques.[8]
Unlike other textile manufacturing hubs in the Castilian Meseta, the local textile industry got to survive past the Early Modern Period.[9] The late modern history of Béjar is indeed marked by its thriving textile industry, and during the 19th century it came to be referred to as the "Castilian Manchester".[10]
Due to the peripheral location of the town and the rugged relief, railway arrived late to Béjar, in 1894.[11] Following the end of the Civil War, Béjar became a major provider of wool clothes, primarily used for military and civil servants' uniforms.[12]
Béjar maintained a positive demographic growth until 1970, peaking at 17,576 inhabitants.[12] The textile industry entered a crisis in the 1970s, prompting to staffing cutbacks.[12] Passenger train services in the Astorga–Plasencia line closed on 1 January 1985, and rail freight transport a decade later, worsening rural flight patterns in the area and hindering business development.[13] In the wake of the decline of the secondary sector, the municipality has tried to foster other alternatives for the local economy such as tourism.[14]
The name Béjar is presumably of pre-Roman origin and it has been documented as Biclara and Biclaro.[15]
Béjar has many remarkable monuments and historical buildings:[16]
- City walls: well-preserved medieval fort
- Church of Saint James (Santiago): built in the 12th century, now serves as a Museum of Religious Art
- Church of Saint Mary the Great (Santa María la Mayor): built between the 12th and 17th centuries, in several different architectural styles (from Mudejar to Baroque)
- Jewish Museum David Melul: shows Béjar's Hebrew past
- Ducal Palace and Camera Obscura: an ancient fortress transformed into a palace for the Duke and Duchess of Béjar in the 16th century.
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