Of all the cities of Castilla y León in Spain, Avila is one of the oldest. It is also of great cultural importance, as in 1985 the old city of Avila, its walls and the churches outside the walls of San Vicente, San Pedro, San Andrés and San Segundo were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Its imposing city wall, built in the 11th century, is almost entirely preserved today. This is the reason why it is the symbol of the city and has made it world famous. It is also considered to be the most complete surviving medieval construction in the world today.
Although the leadership of its construction was taken by the Roman Cassander and the Frenchman Florin de Pituenga, both masters of geometry, almost two thousand people worked on its construction during nine years. Most of them were Muslim captives who left their mark on certain Arab elements that can still be seen today in different parts of the wall.
At present, some 2.5 km of the perimeter of the wall are open to visitors. On this approximately one-hour walk you can enjoy excellent views of the city from one of its more than two thousand battlements.
In addition to the aforementioned city walls, we must highlight a series of elements that are also responsible for Avila being declared a World Heritage Site.
Avila Cathedral has the peculiarity of being the first Gothic cathedral to be built in Spain. There is not much information about its history or its builder. One theory holds that Alvar García began his work around the year 1090 on the remains of what used to be the Church of El Salvador, but most historians indicate that it was built by Fruchel during the 12th century.
A great explosion of Romanesque art took place in Avila at the end of the 11th century. Examples of this are the churches of San Andrés and San Vicente, which are worth a visit due to their historical and artistic importance. However, these are not the only Romanesque works to be found in Ávila. To see them all, we can follow the Romanesque Route, where we can see a large number of temples that are usually located in front of the gates and arches of the city walls.
On the other hand, at each of the nine gates of the city, we can find one or more palaces. The function of these was to defend the gates so that the invaders could not enter the city.
