Muralla de Vitoria

The wall of Vitoria was a walled enclosure that fortified the town of Vitoria in the Middle Ages, and its construction is believed to have taken place at the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century, although there are solid historical-numismatic arguments that point to the fact that the wall was actually erected in the second half of the 12th century.

Approximately half of the total volume remains, and it was recovered at the beginning of the 21st century in an action that received a special mention in the conservation category at the Europa Nostra Awards in Spain in 2010.

The medieval walled enclosure of the town was built at an undetermined time in the 12th century, a few years before King Sancho VI of Navarre founded the town in 1181 under the name of Nueva Victoria. This walled enclosure is already recorded in the charter granted in the same year as the foundation.

For the last few centuries it remained hidden among the buildings of the historic quarter, until an archaeological research team from the University of the Basque Country carried out archaeological excavations in the subsoil of the cathedral of Santa María in 2001, in which the remains of the foundations of the old wall were discovered.

After analysing the remains, it was found that these foundations corresponded to the first wall that surrounded the settlement, but that they dated from before the foundation of the city. This would denote a certain economic power and social leadership, although it is still unknown to this day who the promoters may have been or what they were defending themselves against by using so many resources.

Article obtained from Wikipedia article Wikipedia in his version of 04/08/2022, by various authors under the license Licencia de Documentación Libre GNU.