Manresa: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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EUR 70 - 90 Urbi Manresa Apartments
 Urbi Manresa Apartments are in the centre of Manresa Old Town, 100 metres from the town hall. Set in an 18th-century building, they offer chic, modern… MoreEUR 53 - 129 Sercotel Pere III
 Sercotel Pere III is set in Manresa city centre, in the heart of Catalonia. The hotel offers air-conditioned rooms with free Wi-Fi throughout and free… MoreEUR 58 - 77 Hotel 1948 Manresa
 Rooms at Hotel 1948 offer free Wi-Fi and air conditioning. This small hotel is in central Manresa, a 20-minute walk from Santa Maria de la Seo Church.… More | ||||||||||||||||||
Manresa: Guide
Manresa is the capital of the Bages Comarques of Catalonia|comarca (county), located in the geographic centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgy|metallurgical, and glass industries. Saint Ignatius of Loyola stopped to pray in the town on his way back from Montserrat (mountain)|Montserrat in 1522. As such, the town is a place of pilgrimage for Catholics.
It is believed the comarcal name "Bages" comes from a corruption of the Latin "Bacchus" due to the extensive production of wine in the area. The wine was grown mainly in terraced vineyards, and many of these old terraces can be seen today. Wine ceased to be the main product of the area as a consequence of the phylloxera, but is still a very important part of the Manresa/Bages economy.
During the Peninsular War|Napoleonic invasion, the volunteer troops of Manresa (sometent in Catalan) defeated the French troops in the Bruch Pass (June 1808), but the retreating French proceeded to burn and demolish much of the town. After the expulsion of Napoleon's troops, Manresans rebuilt the town using the rubble. This is the reason for the strange "jerry-built" look of the city.
Jewish history
In the 12th century Manresa was said to have contained 500 Judaism|Jewish families, most of which lived in a narrow lane called "Grau dels Jueus," near the town hall; their cemetery, still called "Fossana dels Jueus," was outside the city. In the 13th Century|13th and 14th century|14th centuries the Jews there were engaged in manufacturing, trading (including slavery|slaves), money-lending (at the rate of 20 per cent, the usual interest at that time), and in the cultivation of their vineyards and estates.
The hostility of the Christianity|Christians towards the Jews which prevailed throughout Catalonia was also manifested in Manresa. In 1325 the Christian inhabitants of the town tried to prevent the Jews from baking their Passover bread, so that the latter were obliged to appeal to the King for protection. The Jews in Manresa did not escape the general persecution of 1391, and many of them Crypto-Judaism|professed to accept Christianity.
After 1414 comparatively few Jews remained in the town, and in 1492 they sold their property for whatever they could get, and left the country. At the beginning of the 15th century Manresa had 30,000 inhabitants; three centuries later it contained barely one-fifth of that number. Several members of the Zabarra (Sabara) family lived in Manresa. The town is not mentioned in the "Shebeṭ Yehudah."
Demography
Reference
Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona:Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 (Spanish). ISBN 84-87135-02-1 (Catalan).
External links
This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Manresa". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.