This name derives from Latin Caronium, even if the Romans had first called Brigantium, name of Celtic origin. In the twelfth ^century appeared for the first time Crunia toponym, hence the current name derives. Toponyms A NURC NURC and As are most used.

History

According to legend, Hercules , after killing the giant Geryon , had his head buried in the foundations of the lighthouse and he himself would have installed atop the tower, a mirror whose function was to reflect the flames of a focus to guide mariners into the night.

In 858 , the city was sacked by the head Viking Hasting .

The famine of 1800 , cost many lives in the city and throughout Galicia and pushed the population towards immigrants.

The city was a cradle of free thought in Europe. Whose anarchist Ricardo Mella.

In the late ^nineteenth century , many galleries windows were installed on buildings along the waterfront of six kilometers. They had a pure thermal protection function to protect the facades of the storms and keep the heat from the sun. Some are over twenty-five meters long, others are decorated with multicolored glass and the whole constitutes the largest collection of glass galleries in the world.

The beginning of the ^twentieth century , saw the return of many residents who made his fortune in Latin America. These Indianos enabled the city to take off economically. Politically liberal, they did burn a pound of stone paved the constitution of Cadiz and placed atop the Tower of Hercules. This book was destroyed in 1939 by Franco.

From 1906 , the Cuban architect Ricardo Calleja y Boan and Galician architect Antonio Lopez Hernandez revolutionizing the local architecture and impose modernism inspired by the Art Deco. The facades are decorated with garlands of exotic flowers, window frames become the support of friezes of lotus flowers or butterflies, and make pottery pastel shades. From this period dates also the first tram that has been in service since 1997.

The fact that General Franco is originally from the nearby city of Ferrol did not prevent the city to suffer repression under Franco after the Spanish Civil War (1931-1936).

During the years 1950-1962, a very tough economic crisis post civil war grows again thousands of people in immigration to South America, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Montevideo in Uruguay. From approximately the 1960s, began a migration to European countries in need of manpower, including Switzerland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and England.

Economy

The city has a budget of more than 212 million euros a year, consolidated by the contribution of the two main public companies, the Compagnie des Eaux de La Coruna and Transportation Company of Corunna. Moreover, according to a report in La Corua is currently the richest county of Galicia. Indeed, it has a GDP of industrial 3486 million euros, which represents over 33% of total GDP in 2007 from Galicia.

The city has the largest industrial area in Galicia, "A Grela" which has more than 600 companies located within its precincts.

The port city is the largest fishing port in Europe, considering that the cargo is unloaded fresh. La Coruna has many important companies at regional, national and even international in their origins, cultural values or pecuniary. Thus, the group Inditex (based in Arteixo , municipality on the outskirts of the city), the first bank and first Galician savings bank ( Banco Pastor and Caixa Galicia ) are based in La Coruna.

The port of La Coruna is one of the economic hubs of the city with more than six kilometers of docks and almost one million square meters of land and sea. It has a dozen fuel tanks, which provide the refinery in the city. In addition, the port was the entry point of over 30 000 passengers and 60 cruise 2004.

Demographics

The metropolitan area of La Corua has 396'015 inhabitants

Climate

Climate La Coruna

La Coruna has an oceanic climate. Temperatures do not know of any significant seasonal variations due to the dampening effect of the ocean and the temperature range between the coldest month and warmest month is only 9 C. Rainfall is abundant with rainfall equal to 1008 mm annually, the wettest month was December with 135 mm.

Transport and Services

Airports

La Coruna Airport

La Coruna has an airport 9 km from the city, called Alvedro. The airport has a runway of 1950 meters, a 11-year-old terminal and an instrument landing system ILS Category III. In 2006, the airport for the first time exceeded one million passengers symbolic. It is hoped, for the year 2007, it exceeds 1.3 million passengers.

The airport has scheduled flights to major cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Bilbao). Several flights also depart on a weekly basis, to Paris, Lisbon, London and Canary Islands.

Main activities

The main activities of the city are watching the football team called Real Club Deportivo La Coruna is the first division, the Tower of Hercules, the strong Celtic La Coruna, home of the domus and the aquarium.

Famous Personalities linked to La Coruna

• Marcial del Adalid (1826-1881), composer.
• Salvador de Madariaga (1886-1978), diplomat, writer, statesman and Spanish pacifist.
• the anarchist Ricardo Mella (1861-1925).
• Amancio Ortega , founder of the Inditex group, 20% of the population works for him in one of his businesses or factories.
• Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), who spent four years of his adolescence in La Coruna while his father was a professor at the School of Fine Arts. The city inspired him his first drafts naturalists.
• Maria Pita , the "Joan of Arc" Galician.
• Jos Milln Astray- creator of the Foreign Legion Spanish 1920. He also participated in the Peninsular War between 1936 and 1939 , during which he reaches the maximum of its workforce with 18 infantry battalions, a tank battalion, a battalion of Engineering and a group of Special Operations.
• Manuel Vilario , photographer, born in 1952 in La Coruna.

Monuments

• Tower of Hercules (Torre de Hercules), the only Roman lighthouse and the world's oldest still in service. Hercules had buried in its foundations the giant head of Geryon.
• Church of Santa Maria do Campo
• Santiago Church
• Obelisco dos Townships
• Elvin Castro
• Praza das Brbara
• Old Coruna
• Monument Emilia Pardo Bazn
• Gardens San Carlos (with the tomb of Sir John Moore )
• Mara Pita Palace (City Hall)
• The seafront promenade Alborada

• The Galician Contemporary artist Manolo Paz La Coruna imagined sculpture-like menhirs. A tribute to the ancient people of Galicia but also to victims of a massacre committed here during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

Beaches La Coruna

• Praia Riazor
• Praia do Orzn
• Praia das Lapas
• Praia de Oza
• Praia de San Amaro
• Praia do Matadero
• Praia de Adormideras
• Praia de San Roque

Nearby beaches

• Praia de Santa Cristina ( Santa Cristina Oleiros , Oleiros )
• Praia de Bastiagueiro ( Bastiagueiro , Oleiros)
• Praia de Santa Cruz ( Santa Cruz de Oleiros , Oleiros)
• Praia de Mera ( Mera, Oleiros , Oleiros)
• Praia de Lorber ( Lorber, Oleiros , Oleiros)
• Praia de Sada ( Sada )

Mairie de La Coruna

The "Pillar of Hercules' flagship Coruna dating from Roman times.

"Galleries", covered balconies typical of local architecture.

Click on a thumbnail to enlarge

Museums

• Museum Mara Pita
• Casa do Home or Domus
• Finisterrae Aquarium (Aquarium or Casa dos Peixe)
• Museo de Arte Contemporneo Unin Fenosa
• Casa Picasso
• Historical Museum (in Castelo de San Antn )

Around

• Museum Pazo mariana ( Bergondo )
• Castelo de Santa Cruz ( Santa Cruz , Oleiros )
• Museum Carlos Maside ( Sada )
• Ethnographic Museum Culleredo ( Culleredo )

Projects La Coruna

• Restoration of the old city, street furniture and historic buildings and residential
• Creating a metro consists of three lines forming a new "axis vertebral" for the city
• Airport expansion of La Coruna, whose runway is the smallest of Spain, extending 500 meters to bring it to a total length of 2450 meters. Construction of a new terminal and start a new anti-fog already being installed.
• Completion of "External Port" (Puerto Exterior) started in 2004 with completion scheduled for 2012. This is a pharaonic construction to release hundreds of thousands of square meters of building land on the sea
• ...

See also

• Galicia Symphony Orchestra
• Endesa Termic
• Inditex
• Hercules Tower
• Deportivo La Coruna

External Links

• (Es) (en) (gl) Mairie de La Coruna
• (Es) (en) (gl) Port of La Coruna
• Pinocho in La Corua: An Illustrated Guide La Corua
• La Coruna
• ASES Teranga: Asociacin de Inmigrantes Senegalese Residentes in A Corua

Article Sources

References section

Major cities in Spain
+ 1 000 000	Barcelona Madrid
+ 500 000	Malaga Zaragoza Seville Valencia
+ 300 000	Alicante Bilbao Cordoba Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Murcia Palma de Mallorca Valladolid
+ 150 000	Albacete Alcal de Henares Alcorcn Almera Badalona Burgos Cartagena Castelln de la Plana Elche Fuenlabrada Getafe Gijn Grenada Jerez de la Frontera La Coruna The Legans L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Logroo Mstoles Oviedo Pamplona Sabadell San Sebastian Salamanca Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santander Terrassa Vigo Vitoria-Gasteiz
Spain portal