Burgos

A city of northernwestern Spain, at the edge of the central plateau, Burgos has about 170,000 inhabitants in the city proper and another 10,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos. Founded in the 9th century, but retaining its Visigothic name signifying consolidated walled villages (burgos), the city was the seat of a Catholic bishop from the 10th century and became in the 11th century the capital of the kingdom of Castile. Burgos was a major stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.Burgos has been the scene of many wars: with the Moors, the struggles between León and Navarre, and between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against

Napoleonic France, Burgos was the scene of a battle, and again in the 19th century Carlist civil wars of the Spanish succession. During the Spanish Civil War Burgos was the base of Gen. Franco's rebel Nationalist government.Burgos is an important travel destination in the North of Spain. The main tourist attraction is the Cathedral, which was completed in 1222. It is modeled after the French cathedral of Bourges and reflects the Gothic style made popular in Spain by the Cistercian Order some time earlier. The cathedral houses the tomb of El Cid, a great knight who fought the Moors in Spain.