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Avila Attractions
Avila is completely encircled by well-preserved 11th-century walls, which are among the most important medieval relics in Europe. This ancient city of has been declared a national landmark. The City Wall is Avila's most emblematic and spectacular monument. It surrounds the old town, illustrating the wealth, power and influence this fortified city enjoyed centuries ago. However the walls aren't the only attraction. Avila has several Romanesque churches, Gothic palaces, and a fortified cathedral. Also, several sites, including the Jewish quarter and the Plaza Mayor, are to be found inside the town walls of Ávila. Avila is among some 80 cities designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.
City Walls
Begun on orders of Alfonso VI as part of the general reconquest of Spain from the Moors, the 11th-century Walls of Avila, built over Roman fortifications, took 9 years to complete. This wall is the symbol of the city and it is one of the best kept, medieval walled enclosures in Europe. Avila's walls, which form an impressive monument, are rectangular in shape, with a perimeter of about two and a half kilometers, some two meters heigh and three broad and is marked by almost 2,500 crenellations.
The walls average 10m in height and have 88 semicircular towers and more than 2,300 battlements.They are reinforced by stout turrets at intervals of roughly twenty five meters, ninety of them altogether, and the most important of them all is the one called "Cimorro" or Cathedral apse. It has nine gates, the two most famous are the St. Vincent and the Alcázar, both on the eastern side. The wall was declared a National Monument in 1884.
Ávila Cathedral
The Gate of Leales, one of the main entrances into the ancient city, leads directly to The Cathedral of Avila. The Cathedral was erected between the 12th and 14th centuries. Its apse, called "cimorro", is attached to the wall, making it the largest round turret of the whole bastion. The Gothic cathedral, said by tradition to date from 1107, but probably of 13th or 14th century workmanship, contains many interesting sculptures and paintings, besides one especially fine silver pyx, the work of Juan de Arphe, dating from 1571. The Diocesan Museum has numerous art pieces, among which a monumental processional monstrance should be highlighted, work by Juan de Arfe.
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