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Ávila, Spain / Spain

Ávila ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m above sea level, the city is the highest provincial capital in Spain.Distinctly known by its medieval walls, Ávila is sometimes called the Town of Stones and Saints, and it claims that it is one of the towns with the highest number of Romanesque and Gothic churches per capita in Spain. It has complete and prominent medieval town walls, built in the Romanesque style; writer José Martínez Ruiz, in his book El alma castellana , described it as "perhaps the most 16th-century town in Spain". The town is also known as Ávila de los Caballeros, Ávila del Rey and Ávila de los Leales , each of these epithets being present in the town standard. Orson Welles once named Ávila as the place in which he would most desire to live, calling it a "strange, tragic place". Various scenes of his 1965 film Chimes at Midnight were filmed in the town. Ávila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. The site originally consisted of the walled city and four extra muros churches. The number of churches included in the site has since been increased.

Ávila Cathedral

Ávila, Spain / Spain

The Cathedral of the Saviour is a Catholic church in Ávila in the south of Old Castile, Spain. It was built in the late Romanesque and Gothic architectural traditions. It was planned as a cathedral-fortress, its apse being one of the turrets of the city walls. It is surrounded by a number of houses or palaces, the most important being: the Palace of the Evening, the Palace of the Infant King, and the Palace of Valderrábanos, which were responsible for the defence of the Puerta de los Leales also known as La Puerta del Peso de la Harina .

Secundus of Abula

Ávila, Spain / Spain

Saint Secundus or Secundius is venerated as a Christian missionary and martyr of the 1st century, during the Apostolic Age. He evangelized the town of Abula, which has been identified as either Abla or Ávila, and became its first bishop. The ancient town of Abula is mentioned by Ptolemy in his Geographia as located in the Iberian region of Bastetania. It is said to be one of the first cities in Hispania that was Christianized, specifically by Secundus. Ávila may have been the ancient Obila and Abula may have been the present town of Abla.Secundus is one of the group of Seven Apostolic Men , Christian clerics ordained in Rome by Saints Peter and Paul and sent to evangelize Spain. Beside Secundius, this group includes Saints Hesychius, Caecilius, Torquatus, Euphrasius, Indaletius, and Ctesiphon.