Murcia

Murcia is a Spanish city and municipality, capital of the Region of Murcia. It is the center of the Huerta de Murcia region and its metropolitan area. It is located in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, on the banks of the Segura River, in the so-called Murcian pre-coastal depression, 40 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. With 462,979 inhabitants (INE 2022), it is the seventh most populous municipality in Spain.

The urban area of the city (or metropolitan area), although not officially established, would comprise some ten municipalities in the Region of Murcia, with a population of 672,773 inhabitants in 2020, spread over a total area of 1,230, 92 km², with a population density of 547 inhabitants/km². Thus, the urban area of Murcia would occupy 10th place in the list of metropolitan areas in Spain.

It is an important service center in which the tertiary sector has succeeded its former condition of agricultural exporter par excellence, thanks to its famous and fertile orchard, for which it was known as the "Orchard of Europe". Among its most prominent industries are food, textiles, chemicals, distillation and the manufacture of furniture and construction materials, many of them located in the West Industrial Estate, considered one of the largest on the peninsula. (shared with the municipality of Alcantarilla).

It is also an important center with a great university tradition since the first university was founded in 1272. It is currently home to two universities: the public University of Murcia and the private Universidad Católica San Antonio, with around 50,000 students.

Of uncertain origins, there is evidence that it was founded in the year 825 by order of Abderramán II, probably on a previous settlement of Roman origin. During the Middle Ages, Murcia became the capital of Tudmir's chora, Later he was the head of different taifa kingdoms of increasing importance in the XI, XII and XIII and between 1243-1266 was incorporated to the Crown of Castile as the capital of the Kingdom of Murcia, also being a city with a vote in courts and episcopal seat since 1291.

Its historical-artistic heritage includes its famous Cathedral, with its Baroque façade and mainly Gothic interior, the famous Casino, with its sumptuous interiors; the dense sculptural heritage of Francisco Salzillo, and a large group of baroque buildings. In the cultural field, it is known for its rich folklore, especially colorful during the Spring Festival and the Holy Week processions, declared of International Tourist Interest. The Council of Good Men of the Huerta de Murcia, an example of a customary court of irrigators of the Spanish Mediterranean, has been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco.

Toponymy

The origin of the place name "Murcia" is not entirely clear and both historians and linguists hold several hypotheses grouped around two basic origins: Arabic and Latin. In the words of Menéndez Pidal: "the place name Murcia was a scourge of philologists".

Arbusto de myrtus communis o mirto, from where the toponymic origin of Murcia is believed to originate

The pre-Islamic origin, probably Latin, seems the most logical, although the first root is not known for sure, and there are many hypotheses that are put forward. The most widespread today was already enunciated by Francisco Cascales in his Historical Discourses of the Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Murcia published in 1621,

Therefore, when the Romans arrived at this place, which Plinius says Murci, saw the freshness of the river, and all its shores covered with murtas (because there is no land in all Spain where more easily, and feracity are born) they judged to attend in it as a particularly place of the Venus Murcia, a friend of water, and murtas, and thus for the great devotion that Murciaim had, it is very verd.

Although the evolution of the word that Cascales proposes is ruled out, the truth is that the place name "Murcia" was used by the Romans, being, as the author says, the name of a primitive divinity that had a temple in the valley located between the Aventine and Palatine hills in the same city of Rome, believing that the name of said goddess is related to the Latin myrtus, with the meaning of "myrtle", evolving to Myrtea /Murtea/Murcia.

Therefore, it seems that historical studies have reached the conclusion that -like the aforementioned divinity- "Murcia" is a place name of Latin origin that most likely derives from Myrtea or Murtea ("place of myrtles" or «place where myrtle grow») or from Murtia, and thus Mursiya - in Arabic, مدينة مُرْسية‎, Madīna(t) Mursiya, i.e. City of Murcia - (first documented name already in Islamic times) was nothing more than the Arabic adaptation of the pre-existing Latin term.

Symbols

The Murcia shield in one of the entrances to the Floridablanca garden

Shield

The coat of arms of the city of Murcia has medieval origins, with various later additions. It is made up of 7 crowns on a red background. Beneath the central crown there is a heart inside which are arranged a rampant lion and a fleur-de-lys surrounded by a legend (Priscas novissima exaltat et amor). The shield is completed by a border with castles and lions.

The origin of this emblem is King Alfonso X, who granted a council seal with 5 crowns as a legal and symbolic representation of the city and its kingdom (commemorating the fact that the Kingdom of Murcia was the fifth to be conquered for the Castilian crown).

Later, in 1361, Pedro I signed a privilege granting Murcia the sixth crown to appear on the seal and on the municipal banner, also adding a border with the symbols of the Crown of Castile (in gratitude for the Murcian role in the War of the Two Pedros).

Later, in 1575, the council asked Felipe II to include a heart to commemorate that the entrails and the heart of Alfonso X rest in the city as established in the will of the wise king (and that they are found in the Main Chapel of the Cathedral of Murcia).

The Lion of the Malecón, one of the traditional symbols of the city

The current coat of arms would be completed in 1709 by Felipe V. The monarch rewarded Murcian fidelity in the War of Succession by granting another royal crown on a lion and a fleur-de-lis united under the text: Priscas novissima exaltat et amor , which would be translated as "The last one, and its corresponding love, exalts the previous crowns"; more academic and literal translation than the traditional and erroneous "extol and love the old and the new".

Flag

The flag of the municipality is red in its entirety, with the shield described above arranged in the center of it. Thus, red is the color of the city (as can be seen, for example, in the clothing of the Real Murcia Club de Fútbol).

Hymns

The Murcia Anthem is the work of the Murcian poet and journalist Pedro Jara Carrillo, who put the lyrics to the music by maestro Emilio Ramírez. It premiered on June 9, 1922. The poet also composed the Hymn to the Virgen de la Fuensanta on the occasion of her coronation in 1927.

A popular unofficial hymn of the municipality is El Canto a Murcia by La Parranda, a zarzuela with a Murcian atmosphere composed by maestro Francisco Alonso, with a libretto by Luis Fernández Ardavín and premiered in 1928. Canto a Murcia is considered one of the most impressive act finales in the history of zarzuela, and is attributed characteristics of a regional anthem.

Other symbols

Other symbols of Murcia are the Matrona or the Lion of the Malecón.

Geography

La Vega del Segura from the Cordillera Sur

The municipal area has an area of 881.86 km² and is divided from north to south into two different parts separated by a series of mountains that make up the so-called Cordillera Sur: Sierra de Carrascoy (1031 meters), del Puerto (604 meters), Cresta del Gallo (609 meters), Villares (487 meters), Columbares (647 meters), Altaona (534 meters) and Escalona (345 meters). These two areas are called: Campo de Murcia to the south, which geographically forms part of Campo de Cartagena, and Huerta de Murcia to the north of the sierra, made up of the Segureña plain. Between these two areas, crossing the mountains, are the natural passes of the port of La Cadena (365 m), the port of Garruchal (302 m) and the port of San Pedro (258 m).

La Vega del Segura, where the well-known orchard is located, is a floodplain deposited on a tectonic trench that constitutes the Murcian pre-coastal depression, 40 kilometers in a straight line from the Mediterranean Sea. In the center of the plain, the city of Murcia arose, on a small elevation next to the Segura river, which had long meanders to the east and west (now disappeared) that meant that the original city was surrounded by the riverbed for all its flanks except for the north.

The mountains that enclose the valley on its north and south sides are composed of geological materials belonging to the Betic System. On the northern slope appears the so-called inner rim of the pre-coastal depression, formed by a succession of smooth hills, made up of sandstone and marl, remains of Miocene sedimentation that remain in the form of a ridge as a result of the subsidence of the Segura depression. Its heights are modest and isolated, which are around 200 meters above sea level, which border the municipality of Molina de Segura.

Map of relief where you can appreciate the disposition of the preliteral depression murciana, with the city of Murcia in the upper right quadrant, crossed by the rivers Segura and Guadalentín as well as the mountainous rebounds that delimit the valley to the north and to the south (Cordillera Sur), that separate it from the coastal plain of the Campo de Cartagena

The contributions and dragging of these hills and mountains together with the avenues of Segura and Guadalentín filled in and clogged the depression to form an alluvial plain with weak slopes. The city of Murcia is located at an altitude of 42 m above sea level for the center of the city. no. m., while the altitude of the municipality varies from 25 meters in the last section of the Segura river in the municipality, to 1031 meters in the Morro de la Fuente, in the Sierra de Carrascoy.

The aforementioned southern area of the municipality, called Campo de Murcia, is the northern part of the coastal plain of Campo de Cartagena, extending downward from the Sierra de Carrascoy to the municipal limits of Fuente Álamo de Murcia, Torre Pacheco and San Javier. A special case is that of the district of Lobosillo, which is located as an enclave of the municipality of Murcia in the center of Campo de Cartagena.

The most western part of the northern area of the municipality constitutes the end of the Guadalentín valley, just before its connection with the Segura plain, forming a valley between the Sierra de Carrascoy to the south and the mountainous foothills of the northern edge of the depression, a valley that is also called campo de Sangonera.

Hydrography

The Safe River at your pass through the Bridge of the Dangers of the city

The Guadalentín River, as you pass through the Canal del Reguerón in the southern part of the vega. Riada de septiembre de 2012

The Segura river is the main hydrographic axis of the municipality. It runs through the plain of the same name and crosses the city of Murcia in a west-east direction, being a river with a Mediterranean rainfall regime, with a low flow but with strong floods, such as those of 1946, 1948, 1973, 1987, 1989 or 2019 that They flooded various areas of the municipality.

The Segura enters the pre-coastal depression from Vega Media (from the municipalities of Las Torres de Cotillas and Molina de Segura), near the districts of Javalí Nuevo and Javalí Viejo, right where the so-called Contraparada is located. In this first section it still follows a north-south direction, which will change to the one described west-east as it passes through the district of Puebla de Soto and the municipal boundary with Alcantarilla. After crossing the city, between the districts of Santa Cruz and Alquerías, the river takes a southwest-northeast direction, leaving the municipality at the height of El Raal, entering Beniel and the Orihuela district, within the Vega Baja.

The river runs from the Contraparada through a canalization carried out in the 1990s that modified the previous course, cutting the classic meanders and increasing the drainage capacity in order to control the periodic floods. As it passes through the city, the Segura has a wide stone channel made in the 1950s, replacing the previous one from the XVIIIth century.

The Guadalentín river, the main tributary of the Segura on its right bank (also called Sangonera in its final section), runs through the Reguerón Canal through the southern area of the plain coming from the Guadalentín valley -which is nothing but the same pre-coastal depression before the Segura reaches it-, specifically in the Bajo Guadalentín region (in the municipalities of Librilla and Alhama de Murcia). This river flows artificially into the Segura at the height of the Beniaján district thanks to the aforementioned Reguerón Canal, which was built in the 18th century to prevent the floods of the Guadalentín from converging with those of the Segura upstream of the city of Murcia.

It is also worth noting the presence of numerous boulevards, located mainly in the foothills of the two mountainous ridges of the pre-coastal depression, highlighting the boulevards of Espinardo and Churra in the north, or the boulevard of Garruchal in the south. In the Campo de Murcia area, these riverbeds are also typical, but they pour their occasional waters towards the Campo de Cartagena and the Mar Menor, highlighting the Rambla de La Murta, the Rambla de Corvera or the Rambla del Ciprés.

Floods

The Segura and its tributary, the Guadalentín, are famous for their furious floods and feared floods, some of which have already been recorded in the late Middle Ages, for which reason their control has been the reason for the construction of defense works since time immemorial, such as cuts, specks, diversion channels and channeling in some sections. The city's Muslim wall itself was thought of as a form of protection, as were such characteristic elements as the Malecón promenade or the Reguerón Canal. Despite the construction of reservoirs at the headwaters, overflows continued to affect the city of Murcia and its orchards during the XX century. Therefore, a definitive comprehensive plan against the floods developed between 1987 and 1994 had to be executed.

Engraving of the Santa Teresa River (1879). Huertos del Malecón flooded

The floods of the Segura have been documented since the late Middle Ages, one of the first being that of October 1328, highlighting their frequency, with 17 major episodes during the century XV. The most important episode of that century was that of September 1452, which led to the development of improvements in the channel and various channeling projects in the Murcian capital.

In 1545 the overflow of the Segura flooded Murcia and its orchard, being the largest flood to date. In 1651 the San Calixto flood caused 1,500 deaths in Murcia with a flow of 1,700 m³/s. In 1802 the Guadalentín broke through the Puentes reservoir, causing a flood that completely destroyed the Murcian district of Buznegra. In 1879 the famous Santa Teresa flood exceeded 1,800 m³/s as it passed through the Puente de los Peligros, setting records highest historical levels in history and causing more than 1,000 deaths and numerous damages.

In the XX century, the floods of 1946, 1948, 1973, 1982, 1987 and 1989 have passed into history many of them exceeding 1000 m³/s of maximum instantaneous flow. Thanks to the works carried out (total channeling of the urban section in the 1950s, channeling and cutting of meanders throughout the municipality at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, and check dams in rivers and boulevards throughout the basin) the overflow in the floods of 1997, 2000, 2012 and 2016, so the river has not overflowed in the urban area since October 1982, although it did overflow in various parts of the municipality in September 2019.

Climate

Climograma de Murcia (Alcantarilla)

Murcia has a dry Mediterranean climate. According to the Köppen climate classification, it is generally a warm semi-arid climate of the BSh type. With an average annual temperature of 18.6 °C in Murcia (Meteorological Center) and 18.2 °C in Murcia / Alcantarilla (Air Base), the urban area and its closest areas are located above the barrier of the 18 °C, which separates the cold (BSk) and warm (BSh) variants of this type of climate, although the averages are less than 18 °C in the surrounding orchard areas most exposed to thermal inversion, in the Sierras del Valle-Carrascoy and Campo de Murcia, in the southern part of the municipality, where the average temperature is around 17-17.5 °C, giving rise to the climate BSk (cold semi-arid).

With mild winters and hot summers, temperatures range from 16°C to 4°C in January and 34°C to 21°C in August, although extreme temperatures can exceed 40°C in summer (especially in situations with a foehn wind from the west) and drop below 0 °C in winter. The absolute extreme values in the main existing stations in the municipality oscillate between the maximum 47.0 °C registered in Murcia / Alcantarilla on August 15, 2021, and the -7.5 °C registered in Murcia (Meteorological Center). on January 16, 1985. From the historic Murcia weather station / Institute, launched in 1866 on the roof of the current Licenciado Cascales Institute, and in operation until the middle of the century XX, there are extreme values of a maximum of 47.8 °C recorded on July 29, 1876, and a minimum of -5.5 °C recorded on the 15th of January 1871. The value of 47.8 °C is the absolute record for the maximum temperature recorded in Spain in the XIX century, although it must be considered that, on the same day of that record, other peninsular stations reached higher records, although they were not final Highly approved for doubtful.

Regarding rainfall, the accumulated annual averages are around 300 mm in a large part of the municipality, being higher than 350 mm on the north face of the Sierras del Valle-Carrascoy and nearby areas. Rainfall is normally concentrated in a few days, mainly in winter, spring and especially autumn, and can be torrential in cold drop situations, with values greater than 100 mm in less than 24 hours, causing floods and floods. The maximum precipitation in one day is 136 mm recorded in Murcia / Alcantarilla on October 10, 1943. Snow, extraordinarily rare in the city and the Segura valley, can fall on the peaks and high areas of the Sierras del Valle- Carrascoy in episodes of cold entrances in winter. In low areas, the heaviest snowfall of the XX century occurred on December 26, 1926, where according to the press in At the time, it accumulated more than a meter thick in less than 36 hours. The last two widespread snowfalls in the municipality occurred on February 12, 1983 and January 18, 2017; This was the first widespread snowfall of the XXI century, settling throughout the Region of Murcia, including mountainous areas, the coast and the orchard of Murcia.

The wind blows normally from the east-southeast component since the last months of spring, influenced by the entrance of the sea breeze. And it turns to the west component at the end of autumn, during the winter and first months of spring. The maximum gust of wind, recorded on October 4, 1987 in Murcia (meteorological center), is 108 km/h. Murcia / Alcantarilla has a maximum record of 103 km/h. However, it is in the summits of the Sierras del Valle-Carrascoy where the wind blows with the greatest intensity, gusts of up to 141.6 km/h having been measured on January 24, 2013 at the Pico Relojero weather station, at 609 m above sea level In this automatic station, in operation since 2012, maximum gusts of over 100 km/h are reached annually, and it has an average, for its first 3 years of operation, of 44 days a day. year with gusts of wind greater than 62 km/h, temporary force according to the definition established in the Beaufort Scale.

Average weather parameters of Observatorio de Murcia (Guadalupe) (61 m. n. m.) (Reference period: 1984-2010, extremes: 1930-2021)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	25.8	29.4	32.6	37.4	41.0	42.5	45.7	46.2	44.6	34.9	31.0	25.8	46.2
Average temperature (°C)	16.6	18.4	20.9	23.3	26.6	31.0	34.0	34.2	30.4	25.6	20.3	17.2	24.9
Average temperature (°C)	10.6	12.2	14.3	16.5	20.0	24.2	27.2	27.6	24.2	19.8	14.6	11.5	18.6
Temp. medium (°C)	4.7	5.9	7.7	9.7	13.3	17.4	20.3	20.9	18.0	13.9	8.9	5.8	12.3
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	−7.5	−3.9	−2.4	0.0	4.0	8.0	13.0	14.0	9.6	4.4	−1.0	−6.0	−7.5
Total precipitation (mm)	27.1	26.8	29.5	25.0	28.2	18.1	2.9	8.1	31.7	36.4	32.1	28.6	296.6
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	3.8	3.6	3.3	3.6	3.9	2.0	0.6	1.0	3.0	3.7	4.1	3.9	36.5
Days of snow (≥)	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1
Hours of sun	189	190	223	256	289	323	353	317	239	217	186	172	2967
Relative humidity (%)	65	63	59	53	52	49	50	54	59	64	65	68	58
Source: State Meteorology Agency

Average climatic parameters of Alcantarilla Air Base Observatory (75 m s. n. m.) (Reference period: 1981-2010, extremes: 1940-2021)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	27.2	29.0	33.0	36.6	42.5	44.0	46.1	47.0	43.6	36.0	31.0	27.0	47.0
Average temperature (°C)	16.6	18.9	20.9	23.1	26.4	30.9	34.0	34.0	30.4	25.6	20.2	17.0	24.8
Average temperature (°C)	10.2	11.7	14.1	16.1	19.6	23.9	26.9	27.2	24.0	19.4	14.3	11.1	18.2
Temp. medium (°C)	3.9	5.2	7.2	9.2	12.7	16.9	19.7	20.4	17.4	13.2	8.4	5.1	11.6
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	−5.0	−5.0	−4.2	−0.2	3.6	9.0	12.2	8.6	7.4	1.0	−2.6	−6.0	−6.0
Total precipitation (mm)	26.2	28.2	30.7	24.7	28.2	17.6	2.2	10.1	23.9	34.4	33.3	24.6	289.5
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	3.3	3.4	3.4	3.5	3.9	1.7	0.5	1.1	2.8	3.7	4.1	3.5	35.0
Days of snow (≥)	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1
Hours of sun	181	199	210	245	282	318	343	305	230	204	172	166	2825
Relative humidity (%)	64	62	57	53	51	49	49	53	59	64	67	67	58
Source: State Meteorology Agency

Fauna and flora

In addition to the orchards and urban areas, due to its large size, the municipal area has different landscapes: uncultivated land, Aleppo pine forests in the mountains of the Southern Cordillera and typical dry Mediterranean areas in the Campo de Murcia.

Pico de la Cresta del Gallo, surrounded by carrasco pines

Most of the regional park of El Valle and Carrascoy is located in the municipality, shared with the municipalities of Fuente Álamo de Murcia and Alhama de Murcia and which includes a large part of the mountain ranges of the aforementioned Cordillera Sur, being the green lung of the city. Within the park, the Carrascoy, Puerto and Cresta del Gallo mountain ranges are declared SCI, while the Cresta del Gallo, Villares, Columbares and Altaona mountain ranges also have ZEPA protection.

Royal owl, of great abundance in the mountains of the municipality

The most outstanding faunal group in the area of the park is that of birds, and especially birds of prey such as Bonelli's eagle, golden eagle, short-toed eagle, booted eagle, buzzard and peregrine falcon, also highlighting the abundant presence of the eagle owl, a species that made possible the declaration of ZEPA by having one of the largest colonies in Spain and with the highest density in the world. As for mammals, the existence of wild boar, fox, wild cat or different species of mustelids such as marten, badger, weasel, as well as seven species of bat.

The park's vegetation consists mainly of Aleppo Pine forest, which in some areas has Stone Pine or Aleppo patches. We must highlight the relict specimens of Cork Oak present in the area called Majal Blanco. The best-preserved understory has a typically Mediterranean scrub in which mastic, wild olive, palmetto, juniper, blackthorn and kermes oak are the most representative.

Within the fluvial fauna present in the Segura river, the recovered presence of the Otter stands out in the initial section of the river from the Contraparada to the vicinity of the city. You can also find mallards, herons, coots, egrets, common redfish, barbels or carp, examples of species that formerly disappeared in the municipality and that have become habitual again after a long process of environmental recovery and water purification. Even in areas of the river far from urban centers you can see reed reeds, night herons, kingfishers or little bitterns.

Likewise, in the northern part of the municipality, bordering Santomera, is the protected wooded area called Coto Cuadros, declared a Public Utility Mountain.

The Garden

The most well-known and significant landscape of the municipal area is the ancient Huerta de Murcia, a space that dominated a large part of the Segureña plain surrounding the city, but which for decades has suffered the pressure of urban expansion that, together with the outsourcing of the economy and the absence of conservation policies have significantly reduced its extension.

Cultural environment

Aerial view of an area of the Huerta de Murcia

The orchard landscape is shown as an immense mosaic of dispersed populations, the result of the need of the inhabitants to live next to their crops. Natural environment characterized by ditches with their peelings and their typical vegetation of reeds and riverside trees, in addition to fruit trees, where the lemon tree stands out in a parcel space lined with vegetables and with the abundant presence of mulberry.

The irrigation system of the huerta de Murcia is based on a complex network of ditches and other irrigation channels of ancient origin. The Muslims were the ones who took advantage of the Roman agricultural areas present in the Segureña plain from centuries before, since the alluvial depression had special characteristics for the development of irrigation. The authentic transformation of the valley took place with the construction of the Contraparada dam, located at the place where the Segura enters the pre-coastal depression and which is responsible for retaining and raising the waters towards the major ditches, Aljufía (to the north of the Segura river) and Alquibla (to the south). Channels that the Arab geographer Al-Himyari described as:

Water conductions made by the ancients who water north and south of Mursiya.

Population growth prompted the need to colonize lands further and further away from the Contraparada, increasing the complexity of the entire system. Some ditches were used to serve the city, such as the Argualexa, providing the necessary flow to supply public buildings and craft industries. The network of ditches supplied energy to Murcian industry, since flour mills, fulling mills, paprika mills, gunpowder and saltpeter factories, tanning, cloth, and silk spinning factories were developed on its side until the end of the 19th century. 19th century, when the first canning industries appeared.

Noria or wheel of La Ñora on the Acequia Mayor Aljufía

The area of Murcia's orchards has experienced ups and downs throughout history, since a significant setback suffered in the XIVth century as a consequence of the prevailing crisis and insecurity, until the expansion of the XVIII century due to the rise of the sericulture sector. At the end of the 1990s, after several decades of economic outsourcing, abandonment of crops and urban expansion, the irrigated area covered an area close to 12,500 hectares (less today after the recent urban boom), which little by little It has been giving way to land development, radically changing traditional uses.

Physical environment

Thus, the Huerta de Murcia extends throughout the Segura plain from the Contraparada dam to the west to Orihuela, now in the Vega Baja, to the east, crossed by more than 500 kilometers of channels, both living waters (those that carry water to crops, such as major, minor and brazal ditches), or dead waters (those that collect excess water, returning it to the river like azarbetas and azarbes).

The inheritances are the lands irrigated by each of the major irrigation channels, divided into two large general estates subdivided in turn into particular ones according to the irrigation channel, highlighting those on the north side -left bank of the Segura- (Aljufía, Churra la Vieja, Alfatego, Beniscornia, Béndame, Arboleja, Caravija, Zaraiche, Santomera, Zaraichico, Casteliche, Nelva, Benetúcer, Raal Viejo, Aljada, azarbe de Monteagudo, azarbe Mayor, Pitarque and Raal Nueva); and those on the south side -right bank of the Segura- (Alquibla, Barreras, Dava, Turbedal, Benialé, La Raya or Puxmarina, Almohajar, La Herrera, Condomina, Beniaján, Batán or Alcatel, Junco, Alguazas, Aljorabia, Alfande, Alarilla, azarbe from Beniel, Riacho, Zeneta, Las Parras and Carcanox).

The Churra la Nueva ditch forms, however, an inheritance independent from the rest, taking its waters before the Contraparada.

Own laws and regulations. The Council of Good Men

Typical landscape of the Murcia orchard. Acequia de Benicomay in the vicinity of Los Ramos

The existence of the Huerta and its irrigation system implied the cooperation of the huertanos through the regulation of irrigation. To this end, since Muslim times and after the reconquest, the city council issued a series of laws and regulations aimed at protecting the Huerta and resolving conflicts that arise. As a consequence of this, a series of institutions and legal figures appear in charge of ensuring this space and its community risks, giving rise to the development of local legislation, partly written and partly customary, on distribution, use of water and control of infractions. All of them are included in the Ordinances and Customs of the Huerta de Murcia, which have been listed in writing since the century. XIX, also regulating the Junta de Hacendados de la Huerta de Murcia and the Council of Good Men.

This council is an institution that dates back to the Middle Ages and whose function is to know and resolve claims and lawsuits, in an arbitration and out-of-court order, allowing disputes to be resolved through cheap, fast and specialized actions, making possible an effective and speedy recovery of the broken order. Their actions were verbal and did not begin to be recorded in writing until the XVIII century, their decisions being recognized within the Spanish legal system.

In 2009, the Consejo de Hombres Buenos de la Huerta de Murcia was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco as an example of a customary court of irrigators in the Spanish Mediterranean.

Neighboring municipalities

The following table shows the municipalities that border the municipality of Murcia, in the geographical sequence in which they are located:

Northwest: Campos del Río y Las Torres de Cotillas	North: Molina de Segura y Fortuna	Northeast: Santomera, Orihuela (Alicante) and Beniel
West: Sewer and Mula		This: Orihuela (Alicante)
Southwest: Librilla and Alhama de Murcia	South: Fuente Álamo de Murcia y Cartagena1	Sureste: Torre-Pacheco, San Javier and Pilar de la Horadada (Alicante)

Note: ¹ The limit with Cartagena is by the enclave of the village of Lobosillo

In addition, the municipality of Alcantarilla is completely surrounded by the municipality of Murcia.

History

Origins

Monument to Abderramán II on Red Cross Square

There are many doubts about the origins of the city of Murcia. There is evidence that it was ordered to be founded on June 25, 825 by the emir of Al-Andalus Abderramán II with the aim of quelling the revolts between Yemenis and Qaysi that bloodied the lands of the Cora de Tudmir, thus making the power of the Emirate of Córdoba over tribal particularisms. Historians such as Rodríguez Llopis, however, defend that what took place in that year was not the foundation but the establishment of the capital of the Cora de Tudmir in a Murcia that already existed in a certain way.

In this sense, Abderramán II initially called the new city he founded Tudmir, but an earlier place name ended up remaining: Mursiya. Therefore, everything seems to indicate the probable existence of a small populated place in this same area, whose origins go back to a Roman villa, perhaps called Murtia, in clear reference to the existence of wetlands and myrtle - arrayanes- around it, a term that, when Islamicized, would derive in Mursiya. In fact, the development of an extensive complex of Roman villas in the Segura valley that took advantage of the fertility of the river terraces has been archaeologically proven. and the abundance of river water.

Prehistory and Antiquity

Oinocoes íberos del Cabecico del Tesoro. Museum of Archaeology of Murcia

Column bases from the basilica of the Olivar de Algezares, of the sixth century. Museum of Archaeology of Murcia

However, the oldest human evidence in the current territory of the municipality of Murcia belongs to the Argar Culture; culture developed during the Bronze Age that had its center in the Iberian southeast with an advanced concept of urbanism, in addition to the mastery of agriculture and bronze metallurgy.

In prehistoric times, as well as in antiquity, the majority of human settlements were concentrated on the mountainous edges of the pre-coastal depression or vega del Segura. Thus, on the southern rim, the sites of Puntarrón Chico de Beniaján from the Argaric period stand out, or Santa Catalina del Monte from the Final Bronze Age. On the north rim, the site of Cuesta de San Cayetano de Monteagudo stands out, with a sequence that goes from the Argar, passing through the Late Bronze Age and the Iberian world, ending in high-imperial Rome.

With the arrival of the Iron Age, the Iberians, specifically the Contestans, had a special development on the southern rim with the Verdolay sites, where an important town appears, with a necropolis associated (the Cabecico del Tesoro) and a sanctuary (the Santuario de la Luz) dated between 500 B.C. C. and romanization.

It was in the middle of Roman times when settlements began at the bottom of the Segura valley, an area of almarjales and stagnant waters that were converted to cultivation through the first evidence of water use in the area, verified in deposits from the late antiquity period such as the Senda de Granada. As already mentioned, the ancient origin of Murcia would be in one of those villae that appeared in areas closer to the Segura river.

The aforementioned area of the Southern Cordillera experienced another population boost in the late Roman-Visigothic period, as some infrastructures that have come down to us seem to show. This is the case of the sites of the Martyrium of La Alberca from the IV century and the basilica of Llano del Olivar de Algezares (17th century). VI).

Middle Ages (Muslim period)

Porta del sal Norte del Alcázar Menor, centuryXIII

Although large-scale agricultural exploitation and water use in the valley where Murcia is located dates back to Roman times; It was the Arabs who, using the course of the Segura river that crosses the pre-coastal depression, perfected and expanded a complex hydrological network made up of ditches, braces and watering cans, giving impetus to the city turning it into one of the most important centers of agricultural production in Al Andalus. This led to the fact that from the X century Murcia became the political capital and economic center of the Cora de Tudmir.

It was not until the second half of the XI century, after the end of the Caliphate, when the city of Murcia led its first independent taifa kingdom under the rule of Abu Abd al-Rahman Ibn Tahir. Conquered by Al-Mutamid of Seville, it was the epicenter of the conflict between him and his vizier Ibn Ammar, who was dethroned by Ibn Rashiq, who also ruled the city independently until the arrival of the Almoravids in 1091.

The city capitalized on a second taifa period at the hands of Ibn Mardanis; known to Christians as the Wolf King. During this period (1147-1172) Murcia experienced a moment of splendor, becoming a political and cultural center comparable to the main Islamic capitals of the time, being the head of the Andalusian resistance against the Almohad Empire.

After the Christian victory in Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), Castile expanded to the south, heading towards the taifa of Murcia, which in its third period was ruled by the Banu Hud dynasty, which after 1228 had become revolted against the Almohads, gaining control of almost all of Al-Andalus, having its capital in Murcia. Finally, the infante Alfonso de Castilla (future Alfonso X the Wise) agreed with Ibn Hud al-Dawla the vassalage of the city in 1243 through of the Treaty of Alcaraz, incorporating it into the Crown of Castile in the form of a protectorate.

Middle Ages (Christian period)

Alfonso X and his court, which used to recalarn in the city

Painting of José María Sobejano López who represents the entrance of the Catholic Kings in Murcia in 1488

Cúpula de la Capilla de los Vélez, whose works began in 1490 and were completed in 1507

In 1264 the Murcian Mudejars revolted against the Castilians for breaching the agreement. Alfonso X, then employed to quell the revolt in the Andalusian sector, urgently requested help from his father-in-law Jaime I of Aragon. Troops from the Aragonese Crown put down the rebellion, entering the city on February 2, 1266. With the conquest of Murcia, the agreements of Alcaraz and Muslim autonomy were suspended. The city was returned to the jurisdiction of Castilla by virtue of the Treaty of Almizra. Jaime I of Aragon licensed 10,000 Aragonese and Catalans to repopulate the area, granting them land, in some cases large areas.

After the end of the protectorate, Alfonso X the Wise established the sociopolitical foundations of the municipality by granting it the Fuero de Sevilla, making it the capital of the new Kingdom of Murcia as it was the seat of the Adelantado Mayor and having vote in courts

In the context of the Crown of Castile, Murcia was during the reign of Alfonso el Sabio one of the three capitals in which the itinerant court rotated, along with Toledo and Seville, creating a studium arabicum et hebraicum. He wanted to be buried in it by testamentary provision, although in the end his heart and entrails would end up resting.

In the year 1291 Murcia officially became the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Cartagena after the approval of Sancho IV the Brave.

In the context of the dynastic crisis in the Castilian crown, James II of Aragon occupied the city in 1296, later returning it to Castilian control by virtue of the Torrellas Arbitration Award (1304). During the XIV century there was a deep crisis that affected the agricultural activity of the Murcia orchard and therefore the city, due to the plague epidemics and the context of insecurity that existed throughout the Kingdom of Murcia, affected as it was by a triple border (with the crown of Aragon, with a Mediterranean crowded with corsairs and above all with the Muslims of Granada).

In the middle of the 15th century an economic recovery began thanks to the end of the Nasrid threat. In 1452, the troops of the city of Murcia, together with those of Lorca, defeated Muslim troops returning from a raid in the battle of Los Alporchones. From 1482, both Murcia and Lorca became the base of operations for the military campaigns that the Catholic Monarchs launched on the eastern part of the Kingdom of Granada. The city of Murcia served as the residence of the monarchs in 1488.

16th and 17th centuries

In 1520, Murcia joined the communal uprising, although with completely different nuances from the rest of Castile due to its clear anti-oligarchic sentiment that was linked to the conflicts that were taking place in the region at the end of the century XV. The Murcian community members established a board of trustees with some popular representation and elected by parishes.

In the reign of Felipe II, Murcian troops under the command of Luis Fajardo; II Marqués de los Vélez and advance of the kingdom of Murcia, helped to quell the Moorish rebellion in the Kingdom of Granada. This fact will grant Murcia the title of Very noble and very loyal . The conflict in the Alpujarras will also mean the collapse of the Granada silk sector, and consequently, the rise of Murcian silk that will allow the city and its kingdom to avoid the effects of the end of the century crisis XVI unlike Castile. In fact, the crisis did not reach Murcia until the third decade of the XVII century.

In the year 1613, Felipe III decided to expel the Murcian Moors who still remained in the scattered aljamas de la huerta and which were so vital for silk production.

The crisis descended on the city with the plague epidemic of 1648 and the subsequent Riada de San Calixto, which in 1651 devastated Murcia with an avenue of the Segura river that caused more than 1,000 deaths. However, in 1654 the Royal Saltpeter Factory was founded by order of Felipe IV to revitalize the city.

18th century

Western view of the city of Murcia in 1778, by Bernardo Espinalt, published in the Atlantean Spanish

In 1705, Luis Belluga y Moncada was named Bishop of Cartagena. In the context of the War of the Spanish Succession, he was the architect of the triumph of the Bourbon cause in the city, organizing the defense of Murcia against the advance of the Austrian cause in the southeast, winning the battle of Huerto de las Bombas, at outskirts of the city. This victory marked a turn in the War of Succession, beginning the advance of the Bourbon cause that would culminate in the battle of Almansa.

During the 18th century Murcia experienced a significant economic expansion. The base of this growth was cemented in an agricultural impulse based on the same, in the increase of the cultivated area. The plowing caused a greater extension of the Murcia orchard and dryland crops in the field area, something that brought with it the appearance of human settlements in these areas (the origin of many of the current districts). As the historian affirms Rodríguez Llopis, Murcia reached the figure of 70,000 inhabitants at the end of the century. In this context of wealth, the silk trade continued to play an important role, in fact in 1770 the Royal Piedmontese Silk Spinning Factory was installed in Murcia.

The buoyant situation was reflected in the arts and urban planning of the city. It is the time of baroque churches and palaces and of the sculptor Francisco Salzillo. The expansion motivated the first human settlement on the right bank of the Segura to take hold; today known as Barrio del Carmen.

At the end of the 18th century, the Murcian José Moñino Redondo, Count of Floridablanca was appointed Minister of Carlos III. Floridablanca notably favored the land where it was born through infrastructures and measures of an enlightened nature.

19th century

With the outbreak of the Spanish War of Independence in 1808, a Supreme Junta was created in the city of Murcia, chaired by the Count of Floridablanca, which sought to extend its authority throughout the kingdom of Murcia in the absence of royal power.

In 1810 Sebastiani's French troops entered, on April 24 the city was brutally sacked. On January 25, 1812, General Soult's French troops also entered the city. On the street of San Nicolás there was a clash between Soult's soldiers and the militias of General Martín de la Carrera, who died in said combat.

Murcia History of Spain in the nineteenth century

In February 1820, after the Riego uprising that marked the beginning of the Liberal Triennium, the Viscount of Huertas orchestrated with peasants from the orchard and some soldiers the assault on the prison to free political prisoners, such as General Torrijos, proclaiming the Constitution of 1812 in the city.

Head of the newspaper El Cantón Murciano, official newspaper of the federation to which the city joined during the summer of 1873, in the framework of the cantonal revolution

With the creation of the current provinces in 1833, Murcia became the capital of the province of the same name, while the former kingdom of Murcia was divided into the provinces of Murcia and Albacete.

Recorded of the Santa Teresa riada at its passage through Murcia on October 15, 1879

In 1862 trains began to run between Murcia and Cartagena on an inaugural voyage presided over by Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1865 the city was already connected by rail with Albacete and Madrid. The arrival of this means of transport meant an expansion urban to the south, further developing the aforementioned Barrio del Carmen.

During the Democratic Six-year period, two federal uprisings took place in Murcia, the first in 1869 and the second in 1872, both led by the revolutionary Antonio Gálvez Arce, popularly known as Antonete Gálvez. In the summer of 1873 the city joined the Murcian Canton that had been proclaimed in the cantonal uprising of Cartagena, being one of the main conflicts that the First Spanish Republic had to face.

On October 15, 1879, the so-called Santa Teresa flood occurred, one of the largest in the history of Murcia, the Murcian region and the entire Segura basin, which caused nearly 800 deaths in the city and its orchards.

20th century and 21st century

In the years of the Second Republic, Murcia was a city with a majority vote of the left in the successive elections that took place.

During the civil war, the city remained faithful to the Republic. It suffered important bombardments from Franco's aviation, such as the one on January 4, 1937, which destroyed the Gunpowder Factory.

The war ended in the city on March 29, 1939 when the 4th Division of Navarra under the command of Camilo Alonso Vega took Murcia, just two days before the end of the war, in the so-called Final Offensive.

During the Franco dictatorship, after the harsh post-war period, Murcia experienced a great urban expansion that led it to exceed its traditional limits under the seal of developmentalism of the time, at the expense of the surrounding orchards and a large part of the historic center.

With the arrival of the Transition and the new territorial organization by autonomies, the city became the capital of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, being the seat of the presidency and ministries, but not of parliament, located in the Cartagena city.

In the last decade of the 20th century and the first of the XXI experienced a new period of growth, becoming the seventh largest municipality in Spain by population and an important business center, despite the economic crisis of 2008-2015.

Demographics

Demographic developments in Murcia (1900-2007)

In blue the sparsely populated Campo de Murcia. In the rest of the municipality (brown) is where 97.35% of the municipal population is concentrated

Comparison of the capital (dark green) and the region (light green)

In 2022 (INE) the municipality of Murcia had 462,979 inhabitants, making it the seventh Spanish municipality with the largest population. However, due to the great extension of the municipal term (881.86 km²), its demographic density (525 inhabitants/km²) is far from the first positions.

Of the total population of the municipality in 2021 (460,349 inhabitants), 169,631 people resided in the district of the capital, which represents 37% of the municipal total. With an area of 11.82 km², said district had a density of 14,351 inhabitants/km².

The other 63% of the inhabitants (290,718 people) were distributed among the 54 districts into which the term is divided. Some of these have been de facto annexed by the urban expansion of the city, constituting authentic neighborhoods although Administratively they continue to be districts, so their population is not counted together with that of the district of the capital, in the case of Los Dolores, San Benito, Zarandona, Puente Tocinos, Santiago and Zaraiche or El Puntal. If the population of this conurbation were added to the district of the capital, the city would have around 231,523 inhabitants (more than 50% of the municipal total).

Most of the districts have several population centres, reaching a total of well over 100 nuclei in the municipality as a whole. This, added to the existence of numerous scattered ones, indicates a very dispersed population. In the INE gazetteer, 157 population centers appear, but 28 are included in that total, which are actually neighborhoods of the capital and one more that appears without population, which would leave the total at 128 inhabited nuclei.

Within the two large areas into which the municipality is divided, the Campo de Murcia and the Huerta de Murcia, it is in the latter where the vast majority of the districts (45) and the population (97, 35% if we include the population of the urban nucleus), so that the density in Huerta de Murcia is much higher than that of Campo de Murcia or that of the total calculation of the municipality (882 inhab./km² compared to 32 inhab./km²) being therefore the settlement much more dense than in the Campo de Murcia. The type of settlement is also very different: in the districts of La Huerta the population density is high with numerous population centers, some of them large, close to each other and many houses scattered outside the centers, which produces a landscape that is either urban or has the constant presence of houses; In the districts that are not from La Huerta (those of Campo de Murcia together with those of Campo de Sangonera) the population density is much lower with few population centers, all of them small, and large areas free of population.

It was at the end of the XVIII century when the first census was carried out, ordered by the Count of Floridablanca. Murcia then had 63,665 inhabitants (1787). After a relative stagnation experienced during the XIX century, in the XX maintained a constant population increase, except in the sixties with a slight decrease, enjoying significant increases in the 1930s and from 1970.

According to official data, in 2019 11.82% of the municipality's population was of foreign nationality, specifically 53,590 people, the largest communities (from largest to smallest) being those made up of Moroccan citizens (16,321), Ukrainians (4,711), Ecuadorians (4,047), Bolivians (3,237), Colombians (2,185), Romanians (2,080), Bulgarians (1,948), Chinese (1,842), British (1,738), and Algerians (1,059).

Graphic of demographic evolution of Murcia between 1842 and 2021

Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute - Graphical development by Wikipedia. Between the census of 1857 and the previous one grows the term of the municipality because it incorporates to La Alberca, Algézares, Aljucer, Beniaján, Era Alta, Espinardo, Palmar or Place of Don Juan, La Raya, Santa Cruz, Santomera and Voz-Negra. In 1978 the municipality of Santomera, whose population is accounted for in the 1970 and previous censuses, was divided, but not in the following.

Metropolitan Area

Central part of the metropolitan area of Murcia, where there are 4 nuclei of more than 20 000 inhabitants around the capital: El Palmar, Las Torres de Cotillas, Alcantarilla and Molina de Segura

Murcia is the center of a metropolitan area that, although it is not administratively delimited, is recognized as an urban area by the Ministry of Transport of Spain. The extension and population of this area depend on each study carried out in this regard, but the Ministry's includes the municipalities of Alcantarilla, Alguazas, Archena, Beniel, Ceutí, Lorquí, Molina de Segura, Santomera and Las Torres de Cotillas.. This area would be made up of 10 municipalities, with a population of 674,766 inhabitants in 2021 (being the tenth most populous in Spain), distributed over an area of 1,230.9 km² and with a density of 548 inhab/km².

The AUDES5 project also defines the Murcia-Orihuela conurbation, which would integrate the previously described metropolitan agglomeration of Murcia, Molina de Segura and Alcantarilla together with the urban area of Orihuela. This supra-regional metropolitan area would have a total population of 776,784 inhabitants (INE 2009), an area of 1,787 km² and a density of 445.54 inhab/km², making it the seventh in Spain.

Economy

Gran Vía Salzillo, center of the economy and social life of the city

Torres Atalayas, current headquarters of the central offices of the Fuertes Group

Primary sector

Traditionally, the municipality of Murcia was an important producer of agricultural raw materials thanks to its fertile and ancient orchards. During the first half of the XX century, their agriculture became specialized and intensive, allowing their products to be marketed in international markets, something that it intensified in the 1950s and 1960s. The municipality of Murcia participated in the export of tomatoes, lettuce and, especially, lemons and oranges to all of Europe along with many other municipalities in the Region of Murcia.

Despite the fact that this sector was once the economic base of the municipality, its importance is now much less after the tertiarization experienced from the years 1960-1970, the regional redistribution of agricultural land after the arrival of the Tajo-Segura Transfer (concentrating production in other previously dry and unproductive regions, including the Campo de Murcia belonging to the municipality) and urban expansion. These factors have generated the almost total disappearance in some areas of the Murcia orchard and its current landscape degradation.

Secondary sector

Levante Star Botellín, beer brand whose factory is based in the Espinardo district

The secondary industrial sector appeared strongly in the municipality of Murcia at the beginning of the XX century through sectors derived from its powerful agriculture. In ancient times, the pre-industrial sericulture sector had an important force in the municipality, but it declined during the XIX century. Between 1900 and 1930 there was the golden age of the paprika industry, with firms such as F.F. or Albarracín. After the profound post-war crisis and autarchy, in the In the 1960s, Murcian producers took the lead in Spain, constituting half of the national supply. The capital's pepper factories were mainly concentrated in the Espinardo neighborhood, to the north of the city. The Murcian vegetable canning sector reached the Spanish leadership around 1930, recovering from the post-war crisis in the 1950s and reaching a new peak in the 1960s, until the mid-1970s.

Currently, the industrial activity of the municipality is concentrated in the industrial estates of Cabezo Cortao, Camposol and the western estate. The latter being the largest in the Region of Murcia, shared with the municipality of Alcantarilla. The powerful canning and paprika industry gave way, after the crisis of the early 1990s, to a more diversified industrial sector in which the food industry stands out, with factories such as the Estrella de Levante brewery, juices of fruit from Juver or AMC or the bottled gazpachos Alvalle from PepsiCo. In textile manufacturing, the head office of Liwe Española stands out, in the district of Puente Tocinos. Also noteworthy are the chemical sectors (with the old Gunpowder Factory, now managed by Expal in Javalí Viejo), distillation and the manufacture of furniture and construction materials.

Service Sector

Murcia's main economic sector is the service sector, of which we highlight the administrative, financial, cultural and other sectors. Historically, the city of Murcia has always been a center of commercial exchange, acting as a redistributor of agricultural and craft production from the interior of Murcia and the Iberian southeast. Starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s, outsourcing in the municipality began to be ubiquitous. In 1991, the city was, together with the municipalities on the coast, where the highest percentages of employment were in the service sector in the southern Levant.

Murcia acts as a point of commercial exchange for the entire Region of Murcia and the Segura basin, extending its area of influence to the neighboring provinces of Alicante, Albacete and Almería. Around the center of Murcia is the traditional core of the city's commerce, being able to find everything from small businesses to big brand franchises. In the municipality there are two centers of El Corte Inglés and one of Ikea (the first to open in the entire Spanish Levante), as well as other shopping centers such as Atalayas, Nueva Condomina, Thader, Myrtea (formerly called El Tiro), La Noria, Montevida and Parque Comercial Oeste.

At the beginning of the XXI century, residential tourism emerged strongly in the municipality, aimed at European citizens, located mainly in the Campo de Murcia, an activity that after being slowed down by the bursting of the real estate bubble has begun a certain recovery.

Administration and politics

Palacio de San Esteban, headquarters of the Presidency and the Council of Government of the Region of Murcia

Capital

As the capital of the Region of Murcia, the city is the seat of the Presidency of the Autonomous Community, the Governing Council (both located in the Palacio de San Esteban), the different Ministries, the Superior Court of Justice of the Region of Murcia (located in the Palace of Justice on Paseo de Garay), the Ombudsman of the Region of Murcia and the Legal Council of the Region of Murcia (both based on Alejandro Séiquer street) in addition to the Economic and Social (ESC).

On the part of the Government of Spain, it is also the headquarters of the Government Delegation in the autonomous community, as well as the Segura Hydrographic Confederation.

Municipal government

Since the restoration of the democratic city councils in 1979, the city government was in the hands of various PSRM-PSOE mayors until 1995, when the Popular Party took over the mayoralty.

Currently the mayor is José Antonio Serrano (PSOE), who has governed in coalition with Ciudadanos since March 2021, after a motion of no confidence against the popular José Ballesta.

Town Hall of Murcia

Territorial organization

City districts

The territory of the municipality of Murcia is administratively organized into the urban nucleus of the capital and 54 districts.

The district of the capital occupies 11.88 km² of the total municipal area and is divided into 28 neighborhoods, grouped in turn into 8 districts.

These neighborhoods are: On the right bank of the Segura, belonging to the district of El Carmen, the neighborhoods of El Carmen, Buenos Aires and Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta, the district of Infante Don Juan Manuel, with the polygon of the same name, while the neighborhoods of Santiago el Mayor, San Pío X and La Purísima-Barriomar are not part of any district.

On the left bank are the districts of La Flota-Vistalegre, made up of the Vistalegre and La Flota neighborhoods, the East district, made up of the La Paz, Vistabella and La Fama neighborhoods, the Santa María de Gracia district -San Antonio, with the neighborhood of Santa María de Gracia. The neighborhoods of San Basilio, El Ranero and San Antón are part of the North district. The Espinardo neighborhood is not part of any district.

Also on the left bank are the 11 neighborhoods of the historic center, which correspond to the 11 original parishes of the medieval city and its suburbs: San Andrés (which is part of the North district), San Antolín, San Miguel, San Nicolás, San Pedro and Santa Catalina (which make up the Center-West district), San Juan, San Lorenzo, Santa Eulalia and San Bartolomé (which make up the Center-East district together with the neighborhood of La Catedral).

While each district has its respective District Board, those neighborhoods that are not part of any district have a Municipal Board instead, in the same way as the districts of the municipality.

Municipal Term of Murcia with its pedancies and the capital in red

Currently, the extension of the urban nucleus of the city of Murcia far exceeds its administrative district, having extended through practically the entire district of Santiago and Zaraiche, also forming an urban continuum with the nuclei of San Benito (district formed by the Barrio del Progreso and Patiño), Zarandona, Los Dolores and El Puntal. The siltation of the city district has led to new developments invading territory that really belongs to nearby districts such as San Benito (part of Ronda Sur), Los Dolores (Ciudad de la Justicia), Puente Tocinos (Atalayas area), Zarandona (the expansion of La Flota to the east), Churra (Juan de Borbón avenue between Ortiz de Zárate square and Los Cubos) or El Puntal (Juan Carlos I avenue from Miguel Ángel Clares street).

Throughout the centuries there have been various changes in the municipal map. Several districts became independent councils during the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823), reintegrating from the 1830s onwards due to their lack of economic sustainability, while those of the Mar Menor region (San Pedro del Pinatar, San Javier and Torre-Pacheco) were definitively segregated in 1836.

In 1960 and due to the strong urban expansion of the capital, most of the old district of Espinardo was incorporated into the district of the city as a neighborhood. What was not annexed currently constitutes the district of El Puntal.

In 1978, the district of Santomera was segregated and a new municipality was established that included El Siscar and La Matanza.

In 1987, an area of 10.2 km² of the district of Cañada Hermosa was incorporated into the municipality of Alcantarilla.

Monuments and places of interest

Cathedral

Torre-campanario and front facade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria

The most emblematic building in the city is the Cathedral of Santa María, headquarters of the diocese of Cartagena, located in the heart of the old town, in Plaza de Belluga. Construction began on the site of the old main mosque or aljama (converted into a Christian temple in 1266) at the end of the XIV, and was consecrated in 1467, although various parts were added or reformed until the end of the XVIII century, when its famous tower was finished. For this reason it presents different architectural styles, especially Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.

Its ornate main façade (1737-1754), projected as an open-air altarpiece, is often considered a masterpiece of Spanish Levantine Baroque. Its tall bell tower also stands out, 93 meters (98 with the weather vane) being the second tallest of the cathedrals in Spain after the Giralda in Seville and endowed with twenty bells. This shows a mixture of architectural styles: the first two bodies are in the Renaissance style (1521-1555), the third body is Baroque and the body of the bell tower and the dome are of Rococo and Neoclassical influences.

The interior of the temple is mostly Gothic. The Vélez chapel and the Junterones chapel stand out, out of a total of twenty-three. The first is in the Flamboyant Gothic style, with an impressive ten-pointed star dome, and the other is one of the great works of the Spanish Renaissance. The Vélez chapel stands out from the outside of the cathedral, highlighting the sculpted chain that surrounds it and on which a famous legend hangs. In the main chapel is the tomb with the heart and entrails of Alfonso X el Sabio.

The Cathedral has a renovated museum (Museo de la Catedral de Murcia) in the building that was once the cloister and in which the cathedral treasure is exhibited.

Old Town

Episcopal Palace. Main square of Belluga

Plaza de las Flores, typical tapas place

Trapería Street in the Old Town

Next to the cathedral façade, in Plaza de Belluga itself, are the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático y Danza (former Seminario Mayor de San Fulgencio) and the Episcopal Palace, both from the 16th century XVIII. The majestic palace is divided into two parts: the central body articulated on a porticoed patio and the so-called "Hammer", which was the viewpoint of the bishops over the Segura and its gardens and which constitutes the architectural enclosure of the adjacent Paseo del Arenal, currently Roundabout.

This square, open to the Segura River, has traditionally been the political center of the city. Built in the 18th century, it is a landscaped space where the Town Hall is located (XIX), with an annex building facing Plaza Belluga, a landmark work by Rafael Moneo.

It is still possible to appreciate the old medieval urban framework from the Andalusian period, once a divider of religions and now converted into beautiful pedestrian streets, such as the Platería and the famous Trapería, which connects the Plaza de la Cruz (where the tower is located from the Cathedral) with the well-known Plaza de Santo Domingo, one of the most appreciated meeting points for Murcians. In the same Trapería you can see the beautiful eclectic façade of the Casino de Murcia (founded in 1847), with a sumptuous interior that combines different styles, from an Arab patio inspired by the royal halls of the Alhambra and the Reales Alcázares in Seville, passing through a Romano-Pompeian courtyard, a marvelous English library with more than 20,000 volumes and a beautiful Neo-Baroque ballroom, among other rooms.

In the aforementioned Plaza de Santo Domingo, we can see the Casa Cerdá; imposing eclectic-style building from the first third of the XX century, in addition to the beautiful complex formed by the Almodóvar Palace (from the XVII but reformed in 1908) and the arch that communicates it with the Rosario Chapel (XVI) and the adjoining church of Santo Domingo (XVIII century >).

Other charming squares are the nearby Plaza de Julián Romea; where, in addition to the theater of the same name, there are some small palaces such as the Vinader palace (from the XVIII century), the Plaza de las Flores, the nerve center of tapas in Murcia, and its neighbor, the Plaza de Santa Catalina; which until the 18th century was considered the main square of the city.

One of the most important monuments in Murcia is the Monastery of Santa Clara la Real, built between the XV and XVIII and inside which are the remains of al-Qasr al-Sagir (Alcázar Seguir), a 18th-century Arab palace XIII from which the pool, flowerbeds and part of the north hall have been recovered (visitable through the Santa Clara Museum), also highlighting a final Gothic cloister.

Religious architecture

Throughout the old town there are numerous churches or monastic complexes of great value. In addition to the Gothic constructions already mentioned, such as the Cathedral or the Monastery of Santa Clara, the old Church of Santiago stands out, with its Mudejar coffered ceiling.

The Church of Santo Domingo, in the square of the same name

From the Renaissance, in addition to the aforementioned Capilla del Rosario, the Colegio de San Esteban stands out, the first Jesuit college in Spain begun in 1555, and the current seat of the regional government under the name Palacio de San Esteban, of which its church and cloister stand out. From the beginning of the XVII century, we find the church of San Pedro and the cloister of the old convent of La Merced. From the same century are the Church of Jesus, headquarters of the Brotherhood of Los Salzillos, the church of the aforementioned Monastery of Santa Clara, the old Convent of San Antonio and the chapel of the Arrixaca of the church of San Andrés.

Within the Murcian Baroque developed mainly during the XVIII century, we must review from the first examples of the late seventeenth and beginnings of the following century such as the church of San Miguel, the convent of the Agustinas del Corpus Christi or the churches of the aforementioned convents of La Merced, Santo Domingo or Santa Ana; to the later churches with a Rococo influence (after the impact of the works on the main façade of the cathedral in the city) such as El Carmen, San Nicolás de Bari, Santa Eulalia and San Juan de Dios (or also the Hospice of Santa Florentina, the aforementioned Major Seminary of San Fulgencio, the Minor Seminary of San Leandro, the portal and cloister of the Colegio de la Anunciata -later Royal Silk Factory- or the Old College of Theologians of San Isidoro).

Neoclassical tendencies arrived in the city thanks to the Church of San Juan Bautista, as well as the churches of San Lorenzo and San Bartolomé, the last two of which entered the century XIX, completing San Bartolomé with a facade and historicist nave.

Civil architecture

Detail of the mihrab of the oratory of the Alcázar Mayor of Murcia (centuryXII)

Murcia Casino on Trapería Street

From the Muslim period in Murcia, in addition to the aforementioned remains of the Alcázar Seguir, we find the remains of the oratory and the royal pantheon of the Alcázar Mayor from the century XII. It also has different sections of the Arab wall, highlighting the section of the wall of Verónicas and the one that is preserved inside the Interpretation Center of the Wall of Santa Eulalia. We must also highlight the recent discovery of the Arrixaca suburb in the old garden of San Esteban, from the XII and style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">XIII, whose musealization is in the works.

Among the city's buildings, the Pacheco Palace and the portals of the demolished Riquelme Palace stand out as examples of the Renaissance. From the silk boom that Murcia experienced at the beginning of the XVII century, in addition to the Almodóvar Palace, samples of the Almudí Palace remain, former municipal deposit, today an exhibition hall, and the covers of the demolished Contraste de la Seda. Late in the century, the Saavedra Palace, the current Azarbe Residence Hall, was built.

From the Murcian XVIII century, it must be highlighted from the initial Baroque typology of the Pérez-Calvillo Palace to its subsequent evolution rococo of the aforementioned Episcopal Palace, the Fontes Palace (headquarters of the Segura Hydrographic Confederation) and the aforementioned Vinader Palace. From the end of the century, acquiring neoclassical overtones we find the Floridablanca Palace, current Hotel Arco de San Juan, the Campuzano Palace and the Palace of the Inquisition, headquarters of the College of Architects, already from the century XIX, when the aforementioned Town Hall was built.

Of nineteenth-century eclecticism, the city has the aforementioned Royal Casino of Murcia, the Romea Theater; inaugurated in 1862 but rebuilt after several fires by Justo Millán Espinosa, with the exterior from 1880 and the interior from 1899, the Carmen station by José Almazán (1863), the old Hotel Victoria (1885) or the La Condomina bullring, inaugurated in 1887 (also by Justo Millán).

Within the modernist currents that arrived in the city at the beginning of the XX century, the Díaz-Cassou House should be noted (1900-1906), the Casa Almansa (1903-1908) -current headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce-, the Verónicas Market (1914-1922) and the later Casa Guillamón (1920-24), works by the architects Pedro Cerdán -author of the main façade of the Casino (1902)- and José Antonio Rodríguez. However, eclecticism continued to have a presence as the century passed with La Convalecencia (1909-1915), the Alegría de la Huerta (1919-21), the Artillery Barracks (1921-26), the Hunters Society (1927), the Zaraiche station (1921-1930) or the aforementioned Casa Cerdá (1934-36), as well as examples of New York inspiration such as the House of Nine Floors (1914-41).

Within the avant-garde architecture developed from the 1930s, it is also necessary to highlight the five-story building on Trapería street, by the famous architect Pedro Muguruza, built in 1935 along the lines of traditional regionalism, the old Post Office Building (1928-1931) being by the same author. Within rationalism is also the six-story house on Calle Trapería, by José Luis de León y Díaz-Capilla (1934-1941) -of which is also the building called "El Acorazado" in Plaza Santo Domingo (1934- 35)- or the Coy Building, by Gaspar Blein (1935).

Bridges

New bridge, representative of the metal architecture characteristic of the industrial development period

Several bridges of different styles cross the Segura river as it passes through Murcia, from the oldest (from the XVIII century) to several recently created by famous contemporary authors.

Puente de Vistabella on the Segura River, designed by Santiago Calatrava

• El Puente de los Peligros (or Puente Viejo) (1742), stone construction early in the centuryXVIII with an attached neoclassical chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Dangers (then her name). It is the oldest bridge in the city and the first in the murcian history to overcome all the riads of the Segura.
• The New Bridge (or Iron Bridge) (1903), metal bridge at the end of the centuryXIX and principles XX.that receives the name of "new" despite being the second oldest in the city.
• El Puente de la Fica (1967-1969), communicates the Polish murciano Infante Juan Manuel (right margin of the Segura) with the neighborhood of Vistabella, being one of the most capable of living.
• La Pasaela Miguel Caballero (or Puente del Martillo) (1970-1971), the third built bridge that connects the Barrio del Carmen with the historic center of the city.
• The Hospital Bridge (1973), renovated by Santiago Calatrava in 1999, which extended it and gave it its current image, following the architectural criteria of the author.
• The Cave of the Malecón (1997), the work of Javier Manterola. Busy pedestrian bridge supported by a mast of more than 15 meters high that is located on an island of the river.

• The Puente de Vistabella (or the Jorge Manrique Gateway) (1995-1997), also designed by Santiago Calatrava, is another pedestrian bridge similar to various walkways of the author that also present problems with the glass floor.

• The Bridge of Los Dolores, communicates two paths of great capacity like the avenues of Miguel Induráin and Los Dolores, being the last bridge down. Territorially it is already located outside the city district.

Also of special interest as an architectural element related to the Segura River is the popular Malecón promenade, an old defense wall against floods and avenues of water, of medieval origin but converted into a promenade during the century XVIII.

Parks and gardens

Monument to the Count of Floridablanca (1849), located in the garden of the same name

East Lake of the Seda Garden with the historic fireplace

Portada del Huerto de las Bombas en el jardin del Malecón. Considered the botanical garden of the city

Among the main parks and gardens of the city, the following stand out:

• Floridablanca Garden: created in the middle of the centuryXIX about the previous alamedas of the city of the centuryXVIII, it is the oldest park in Murcia. Located in the heart of Barrio del Carmen, it is dedicated to the figure of the Count of Floridablanca. It has several commemorative monuments (to the Count of Floridablanca, to the poets Pedro Jara Carrillo and José Selgas etc.) and to leafy old trees.

• Garden of the Silk: located in the central San Antón district, is where the disappeared Convent of the Diegos and a later silk factory - from which a chimney is preserved today - was transformed into a garden in 1990, with a remodeling in 1999. It has sports areas and a central auditorium.

• Garden of the Malecón: located where the orchards of the desamortized Convent of the Franciscans were formerly located, which later made the functions of botanical garden of the Provincial Institute since 1845, is located right next to the Paseo del Malecón that gives it name. In 1974 the project of the present Malecón garden was carried out, which included the annexation of the remaining lands of the old Botanical Garden with some nearby gardens, highlighting the so-called "of the Cipreses". In it the so-called Huertos del Malecón are installed during the September Fair. In its interior there are numerous sculptures besides the cover of the derruida casena eighteenth of the Huerto de las Bombas. This cover appeared in the 5 pesetas coins.

Salitre Garden Lake

• Garden of the Salitre or the Pólvora: located on the grounds of which was the Real Fábrica del Salitre de Murcia, founded in 1654. Between 1816 and 1849 she was leased to private companies, going to military hands from this last date until 1964 in which she took charge of it the Santa Barbara National Company. In 1987, the agreement was reached to transfer the land for the municipality, becoming a public garden in 1994, generating a large green space in the center of the city. In the remodeling works of the garden, several environments were created, such as the garden where the Spanish-Arab garden has been recreated, the water arch square, with a fountain with three types of arches that symbolize the three cultures that lived in Murcia, the maze of aromatic plants or the lake. Next to the garden, and as an annex to it, is the very old garden of the López Ferrer, traditionally called "Huerto Cadenas". The orchard belonged to the case of the same name today rehabilitated and converted into the City Museum, and was perimeterly walled.

• Fofó Park: garden built in the northern part of the city in 1971, specifically in the district of Santa Maria de Gracia, being the initial project work of the architect Eugenio Bañón Saura. This project contemplated the creation of an auditorium, grasslands and playgrounds, including a small skating track. In early 1972 the plantations were made and in June of that year the public was opened. In the late 1980s the lake was built, which was crossed by a route in which there were two birds, whose domes still exist; also a dry source was built in the place where the old skating track was located. In this garden is the statue with which the children of Murcia and Alicante wanted to remember the clown Fofó, who died in 1976, and hence the name by which many people know this popular garden.
• Isaac Peral Park or the Three Cups: It is a park with a fountain in the center with three cups of which water falls from the top (hence the origin of its colloquial name). It is located in the La Fleet district and is one of the largest in the city. It has gardens, walks, canine area, sports facilities (basketball/floor court), a stage for events and large children's areas.

Rest of the municipality

In the rest of the municipality, the baroque Monastery of Los Jerónimos (in the district of Guadalupe), and especially the Sanctuary of La Fuensanta (in the district of Algezares), where the Virgen de la Fuensanta is venerated, are noteworthy, Patron saint of the city. Next to the Sanctuary, a wide viewpoint allows us to contemplate a panoramic view that covers the entire city, the Segura plain and the surrounding mountains.

View of the Sanctuary of the Fuensanta and its location

The Sanctuary is inside the regional park of Carrascoy and El Valle. This park, located less than 5 km from the urban area, has a maximum elevation of 1065 meters. In El Valle you can practice climbing and hiking and make several visits taking as a starting point the Visitor Center of La Luz. In it we will be able to learn about the flora and fauna of the place, the history of the monasteries in the area (San Antonio el Pobre, the Hermitage of Light, Santa Catalina del Monte), as well as the archaeological sites and remains from the Iberian period that The park has: the Iberian Sanctuary of Light; currently visitable, and the necropolis of Cabecico del Tesoro. On the same slopes of the mountains there are also remains from the late-Roman-Visigothic period, such as the Martyrium of La Alberca or the Basilica of Llano del Olivar. And also the remains of several Muslim castles such as the Castillo de la Luz, the Castillo de la Asomada, and the Castillo del Portazgo.

In the northern part of the city, in the Monteagudo district, is the San Cayetano Visitor Center, located on the site of the same name formed by a town of the Argar Culture and a later Iberian settlement in addition to Roman remains. Also noteworthy in this district are the remains of the so-called Castillejo (Ibn Mardanis palace) and the Monteagudo Castle, also from the Andalusian period, crowned by a great Christ built in 1951. Of Arab origins is the hydraulic waterwheel of La Ñora, sample of the millennial exploitation of the orchard of Murcia, whose irrigation network begins in the ancient Contraparada (located between the districts of Javalí Nuevo and Javalí Viejo).

Services

Health

Hospital Reina Sofia de Murcia

The main hospitals in the municipality of Murcia are the following:

• Public, dependent on the Murcian Health Service:
  • Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca, formed by various buildings, such as the mother-infant, located on the pedanía of El Palmar, is the largest of the entire Region and one of the largest in Spain.
  • Hospital General Universitario Reina Sofia.
  • General Hospital Morales Meseguer.
• Private:
  • Quirón-San Carlos Hospital.
  • Hospital Mesa del Castillo.
  • Virgin of the Vega (ASISA Property).
  • Our Lady of Bethlehem (ASISA Property).

Transportation

Bicycle rental service Muybici

Bicycle

Since April 2015, MuyBici has existed, a Public Transportation System by bicycle that seeks to promote the use of bicycles as an efficient and healthy means of transportation in the city, contributing to more sustainable commuting. This is an Experimental Plan launched by the City Council to reduce the use of private vehicles and promote other non-motorized means of transport, such as public transport, walking or the bicycle itself. It is not a public bicycle rental system for tourist or recreational use. It is a complement to public transport. Its purpose is to cover the small displacements that occur daily within the city.

Electric vehicle

The previous Mayor of Murcia, Miguel Ángel Cámara, signed an Action Protocol with the president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, for the execution of the electric vehicle pilot project, which will make Murcia a benchmark in the implementation of this medium Of transport. Likewise, the City Council, through ALEM, will be in charge of preparing a plan that contemplates the forecast of charging demand and the availability of charging points and types in public spaces. Municipal taxation has collected since 2008 a 30% discount on vehicle tax during the first three years for electric cars or cars with low polluting emissions. The council is acquiring 8 electric cars that will be used for various municipal services. On the other hand, the tender for the street cleaning and waste collection service will include in the specifications the obligation to incorporate electric vehicles into the fleet.

Public transport

There are various means of public transport available in the city and in the municipality of Murcia.

Bus

Murcia has a bus station located in the San Andrés neighborhood. It has connections to various regional, national and international destinations.

The bus lines in the municipality are divided into two concessions, both dependent on the City Council: one for urban lines and another for lines to the districts.

Urban lines

The concessionary company for the road passenger transport lines in the city is Transportes de Murcia, a joint venture between Martín, Ruiz and Fernanbús (Transvía Group). The vehicles are scarlet in color, which is why they are colloquially known as "los coloraos".

Currently 10 lines provide service:

District lines

The concessionary company for the lines that connect the city with the districts of its municipality is Monbus, which operates under the Transporte de Murcia y Districts (TMP) brand. It has 20 lines and a fleet of 87 vehicles. It began operations on December 3, 2021, replacing the previous concessionaire Autobuses LAT.

On the other hand, there is a network of interurban lines that connect Murcia with other municipalities in the Region, and that depend on the autonomous community. The lines in the metropolitan area are included in the Movibus brand.

Regarding intermodality, the Murcia public bicycle rental service does not allow intermodality. On the other hand, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of the Murcia City Council does not contemplate the implementation of bicycle racks, the raising of folding bicycles, the connection with the bus and the cards that integrate the various mobility services (suburban train, regional bus, bus urban, bicycle rental), as is already the case in other autonomous communities such as Asturias.

Unlike other municipalities, no electric bus pilot plan has yet been launched.

Until 2012, the Public Transport Entity (EPT) existed. NFC (Near Field Communication) technology to also be able to recharge or check the balance, as well as know the latest movements.

Tram

Tramway from Murcia

Murcia has a metropolitan tram line and a shuttle for it (line 1B), both inaugurated in May 2011, four years after the opening of an experimental section that ran along Juan Carlos I avenue.

The line currently in service links the Plaza Circular with the campuses of the UMU and UCAM universities, in Espinardo and Guadalupe respectively, and several shopping centers and the Nueva Condomina Stadium located between the districts of Churra and Cabezo de Torres, forming a big V in the north of Murcia. This line is part of a project that includes another three lines to be built.

The shuttle or line 1B leaves from the Los Rectors-Terra Natura stop and ends its journey at the UCAM-Los Jerónimos stop.

Railway

Murcia has a railway station, called Murcia del Carmen, located in the neighborhood of the same name.

Several long-distance lines connect the city with Madrid, via Albacete, as well as with the Valencian Community, Catalonia and Aragon. The trains that provide these services are Alvia, Media Distancia and Intercity trains as well as Regional trains with Cartagena. Murcia del Carmen is also a stop on the Madrid-Levante high-speed line, which connects it with Albacete, Cuenca and Madrid, as well as Avant services with Alicante. It is also the center of a Cercanías network, called Cercanías Murcia/Alicante. The C-1 line connects the city with Alicante through Orihuela and Elche, and the C-2 connects it with Lorca and Águilas through Alcantarilla and Totana, crossing a part of the province of Almería on the branch that leads to the coastal town of Águilas.

line	tour	km
	Murcia del Carmen - Elche - Alicante Terminal	76
	Murcia del Carmen - Lorca - Eagles	118

Until 1985 there was a direct connection with the city of Granada. It was the Murcia-Granada Railway. In recent years, due to the new boom in rail transport, there are plans to put the line back into operation, thus connecting the Mediterranean arc with the port of Algeciras.

Murcia del Carmen railway station. Built in 1863

In December 2022, King Felipe and Pedro Sánchez inaugurated the Beniel-Murcia section of the Madrid-Levante high-speed line. The construction of the new underground station, the second phase of the burying of the railway laying as it passes through the city as well as the continuation of the Mediterranean Corridor towards Cartagena and the Murcia-Almería high-speed line.

The municipality also has the Murcia-Mercancías Station, in the district of Nonduermas, being the cargo terminal for Renfe merchandise, also having some railway workshops and merchandise Customs.

In the city there was another station (this one of the terminal type), the Murcia-Zaraiche station, also called Caravaca Station, head of the old Murcia-Caravaca railway, now dismantled. The old station building is today the headquarters of the municipal company Aguas de Murcia, located in the Circular square.

Airport

Terminal of the International Airport of the Region of Murcia

The Murcia Region International Airport (IATA: RMU, ICAO: LEMI), also known as Corvera Airport, is the airport that serves the municipality and the Region of Murcia, located between the district of the same name and that of Valladolises, 26 kilometers from the urban area of the city. Since January 2019, the date of its inauguration, it is the only one in existence that operates civil flights after the Murcia-San Javier Airport, operational for fifty years, was left exclusively for military use. The aerodrome has several international routes with various European countries both on regular flights, whether seasonal or annual, and on charter flights, also having several national routes. Its main competitor is the Alicante-Elche Airport, part of the Aena airport network and located 72.4 kilometers from Murcia.

The airport is accessed from the capital mainly by the A-30 motorway towards Cartagena, taking exit 161 towards the airport.

Highways and national roads

The following highways have part of their route in the municipality of Murcia:

Source: Official State Road Map (2012)

The following national highways have part of their layout in the municipality of Murcia:

Source: Official State Road Map (2012)

Energy

Murcia has a Local Agency for Energy and Climate Change. Within the framework of the work carried out by the Agency, the City Council is going to develop the Local Strategy Against Climate Change of the municipality.

The new Municipal Ordinance of Solar Capture establishes that new buildings, those buildings that are rehabilitated and newly built swimming pools or those already built that wish to install a water conditioning system, will be obliged to have the hot water come from of solar energy and, as a novelty, commercial premises are also included, something that is not included in the Technical Building Code. One of the articles of the Municipal Solar Capture Ordinance deals with the protection of the landscape and obliges the adoption of measures that minimize the visual impact of solar panels, achieving proper integration into the landscape.

Murcia belongs to the Spanish Network of Cities for the Climate.

On the other hand, there is a project for the new streetlights installed in the city to work with photovoltaic solar energy, canopies with solar panels are being installed on their roofs for night lighting without consumption of the electrical energy network.

The City Council has put out to tender three parcels of municipal property, with the objective that the successful bidders install solar energy plants. The dimensions of the plots are: Gea and Truyols with 5.6 hectares, La Peraleja in Sucina with 43 hectares and the El Escobar farm in Jerónimo and Avileses with 100 hectares.

Police

There is a police force that provides services in the municipality, the Local Police of Murcia. It was founded in 1854, and currently has two barracks and nine police stations. It is made up of about 600 agents in service, approximately.

In addition, the city is home to the Higher Headquarters of the National Police Corps, as well as the Civil Guard Command, in the Region of Murcia.

Culture

In the cultural field of the city, the existence of two universities stands out, one public and the other private; numerous museums, cinemas and theaters, its popular festivals and important festivals.

Theatres

Interior of the Romea Theatre

In the municipality of Murcia there are several theaters, among which the Romea Theater stands out. Located in Julián Romea square, it was inaugurated in 1862 by Queen Elizabeth II. Initially called Teatro de los Infantes and then Teatro de la Soberanía Popular, to finally adopt its current name in honor of the Murcian actor Julián Romea.

Other outstanding scenic spaces are the Teatro Circo, inaugurated in 1892 and which after decades of neglect has reopened its doors after extensive rehabilitation; the Víctor Villegas Auditorium and Congress Center inaugurated in 1995; and the Bernal Theater located in the hamlet of El Palmar.

The Network of Municipal Auditoriums includes the Beniaján Auditorium, the Cabezo de Torres Auditorium and the La Alberca Auditorium, with a wide range of theater and music offerings; To these must be added two other recently built auditoriums: the one in Algezares and the one in Guadalupe.

Cinemas

Auditorium and Congress Centre Víctor Villegas

The city has seen how the neighborhood cinemas and those located in the center have been disappearing, to the point that since 2006 only the Rex cinema, the Centrofama cinemas and the Murcia Regional Film Library remained open to the public in this area Francisco Rabal (former Salzillo cinema).

Years before, the first multiplexes opened, those of Atalayas and Zig Zag, both already closed. State-of-the-art ones were inaugurated in 2006 in the Nueva Condomina and Thader shopping complexes, to the north of the city. In the latter, the Xpand 6D room was opened, the first in Spain that combined 3D projection with SFX mobile seats and effects of rain, wind, light, fog and smell. Other multiplexes were later opened in the El Tiro shopping center.

Universities

Faculty of Letters of the Campus of Merced of the University of Murcia, from University Square

The city of Murcia has two universities: the University of Murcia (UMU) and the Catholic University San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM).

The University of Murcia is a public university. It has its origins in 1272, although its final foundation was in 1914. It is made up of five campuses, three of which are in the municipality: La Merced, in the urban area; that of Espinardo; and that of Health Sciences in El Palmar. There is a fourth campus in the municipality of San Javier and a fifth in Lorca. Some 38,000 students study at the institution.

UCAM is a private Catholic university founded in 1996. It has its campus in the Monastery of Los Jerónimos in the district of Guadalupe.

Within higher education, the Murcian capital is home to the Murcia Higher Conservatory of Music and the Murcia Higher School of Dramatic Art and Dance (ESAD).

Museums

Archaeological Museum of Murcia (MAM), from the Gran Via Alfonso X. It has an important collection that spans from Prehistory to the Paleochristian World in the region

Exterior of the Salzillo Museum

Murcia has a large number of museums, many of them recently renovated, such as the Salzillo, the Fine Arts or the Archaeological Museum. To highlight the Museum of Santa Clara, inaugurated in 2005 inside the monumental complex of the Monastery of the same name.

The different museums in the city of Murcia are:

Art centers or exhibition halls

Festivals

Franz Ferdinand performance at the SOS 4.8 festival

Murcia hosts the celebration of several festivals from different cultural fields:

• International Folklore Festival in the Mediterranean.

• Festival Internacional Murcia Tres Culturas: It takes place in May and was created with the idea of overcoming the barrier of racism and xenophobia, seeking to meet, understand and reconcile cultures and peoples. The term “Three Cultures” refers to the coexistence between Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures on the Iberian peninsula during some periods of the Middle Ages. Each year the festival has a guest country and although it rotates mostly around the music, it also includes exhibitions, colloquiums and conferences.

• Warm Up: Formerly called SOS 4.8, festival created by the Department of Culture of the Autonomous Community to project a more modern image of the city and place it in the national panorama of festivals among which it has been successfully located. Since 2008, editions have been held, which take place on the first weekend of May in the Fair of the Fica, in the neighborhood of Vistabella.
• Animal Sound: Festival of electronic and urban music that takes place every year in the Fair of the Fica for two days of the month of June. Each year it has important national and international artists.
• Lemon Pop Festival: Indie music festival held during the month of September. It has almost 20 years of history and during it has passed through its important scenes such as Vetusta Morla or Nacha Pop.

Popular festivals

Detail of the Pass of the Prayer of the Huerto (1754), by Francisco Salzillo, in the procession of Good Friday in the morning, known as that of Los Salzillos

• Holy Week: Its processions are famous for the images of Salzillo and its unique style, of which the processions of Los Moraos (or “Los Salzillos”) and Los Coloraos are exponent. In traditional-style processions, the Nazarenes wear an orchard outfit and give candy, monas and beans to the people who come to the processions, which are declared to be an International Tourist Interest Party.

• Spring Festivals: They are held the following week to Resurrection Sunday. Throughout the week there are concerts and parades and the orchards set up in the gardens of the city the so-called "barracas" in which local gastronomy can be tasted. Among the many acts, on Tuesday, the Bando de la Huerta and on Saturday the Entierro de la Sardina, both declared of International Tourist Interest.
• September Fair: developed during the first half of September. It includes numerous festive events and culminates in the pilgrimage of the Virgin of the Fuensanta. These days are celebrated the Feasts of Moros and Christians, which commemorate the Muslim foundation of the city and the Christian conquest.

Virgin of Fuensanta

The Virgin of Fuensanta is the patron saint of the city of Murcia. She constitutes one of the most relevant Marian devotions in the eastern peninsula. It is the protagonist of two pilgrimages a year that transfer the image from its Sanctuary to the Cathedral and another two back that take place in view of the important festivities that take place in the city, in spring (Holy Week and Spring Festivals) and September (the September Fair), the latter being the most massive.

Dialectal speech

The Murcian dialect is the traditional and historical Romance dialect of the Region of Murcia that has its origins in the Kingdom of Murcia in the centuries XIII and XIV when various linguistic variants (Andalusian romance, Arabic, Spanish, Catalan, Aragonese, etc.) merged to give rise to the Murcian dialect.

Some linguists classify it as a dialect of Spanish, while the RAE until recently considered Murcian to be a dialect of Aragonese, while Catalan sources maintain that Murcian is a transitional dialect between Spanish and Catalan.

The regional variant of the Murcian dialect, typical of the Segura valleys, is what has been popularly known as panocho, in which the municipality of Murcia participates despite the increasing standardization of the normative Castilian spoken in it.

Gastronomy

Typical outdoor arrangement of murcian beef pie

Potatoes with malt coffee

Sports

Sports Equipment

The city has one of the historical teams of Spanish soccer, the centennial Real Murcia. Play in the municipally owned soccer stadium of Nueva Condomina.

• Football: Real Murcia Club of Football, Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Football, Racing Murcia Soccer Club, Club de Actuado Popular Ciudad de Murcia
• Basketball: UCAM CB Murcia
• Volleyball: Voley Murcia and Club Atlético Volleyball Murcia 2005
• Rugby: XV Murcia Rugby and Club Universitario Rugby Murcia
• Football Room: ElPozo Murcia Turística

Sports facilities

• Stadium of La Condomina

New Condomina Stadium with capacity for 31 179 viewers

• Stadium of the New Condomina
• Prince of Asturias Pavilion
• Palacio de Deportes de Murcia
• Inacua Sports Centre
• Municipal Complex José Barnés
• Polydeportivo Pavilion of Espinardo

In 2006, Murcia hosted two world championships:

• From November 27 to December 10, the 51 World Championship of Artistic Skating was held.
• VIII Pádel World Championship.

Murcia 2001

In 2001, Murcia hosted the VI European Youth Olympic Festival, where 2,500 young under-18 athletes from 46 European countries participated and competed in ten different sports modalities. Murcia was chosen by the European Olympic Committee at a meeting held in Stockholm in November 1997. The opening ceremony of the Festival was held in the large central square of the old Artillery Barracks on July 22, 2001.

Leisure

In Murcia is the Terra Natura theme park, which recreates the habitat of Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. It opened its doors in 2007 and has the first water park in the Region of Murcia.

Another important leisure center is ZigZag City, an open-air space with a wide variety of restaurants, pubs, and nightclubs.

Among the tapas areas of the city, it is worth highlighting the Plaza de las Flores and its surroundings, the Plaza Cardenal Belluga, the area of the Plaza de San Juan and its surroundings, as well as the area of the Plaza de Europa and adjacent streets to the Merced campus.

Murcia also has a wide variety of nightlife venues. The area of Las Tascas, located between the central neighborhoods of San Lorenzo, Santa Eulalia and San Juan, as well as Atalayas and Mariano Rojas, on the outskirts, are noteworthy.

Twin cities

Murcia's sister cities are:

Notable people

Throughout its history there have been numerous illustrious people who were born in Murcia or who, due to their special ties to the city, can be considered adopted Murcians. Of all of them, the most relevant figure is probably Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), also called Abenarabi, Sufi mystic, poet, philosopher, traveler and Andalusian scholar. Ibn Arabi is a world-class figure in the field of mysticism, especially Muslim.

As for the figures of national stature, King Alfonso X of Castilla y León (1221-1284), called el Sabio, can be considered as Murcian by adoption since his connection with the city went so far as to ask that his heart and bowels rest in the capital of the kingdom of Murcia. Luis Antonio de Belluga y Moncada, better known as Cardinal Belluga (1662-1743), was Bishop of Cartagena and Viceroy of Murcia and Valencia during the reign of Felipe V. Although born in Motril, Belluga developed the most intense part of his life public in Murcia, leaving a deep mark on the city and its surroundings. Born in Murcia, José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca (1728-1808), a prominent statesman who held various positions during the reigns of Carlos III and Carlos IV, as well as being the first president of the Supreme Central Board during the War of the Independence. Floridablanca was a great modernizer and benefactor of his hometown. Under his direction, the so-called Floridablanca Census was carried out between 1785 and 1787, the first population census carried out in Spain using modern statistical techniques.

Other illustrious Murcians are: Ibn Sabin al-Mursí (1217-1270), Sufi teacher and philosopher; Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi (1219-1287), Sufi master who gives his name to the most important mosque in Alexandria (Egypt); Ibn Razin al-Tujibi (1227-1293), poet and gourmet; Luis Fajardo de la Cueva (1509-1574), nobleman, politician and military man; Andrés de Claramonte (1560-1626), playwright and actor; Pedro Orrente (1580-1645), Baroque painter who spread Italian naturalism in Spain; Diego de Saavedra Fajardo (1584-1648), writer and diplomat of Felipe IV; Salvador Jacinto Polo de Medina (1603-1676), writer and poet; Diego Mateo Zapata (1664-1745), physician and philosopher; Francisco Salzillo (1707-1783), sculptor and image maker, the most representative of the Spanish 18th century and creator of the Murcian school of sculpture; Roque López (1747-1811), sculptor and image maker, disciple of the former; Diego Clemencín (1765-1834), writer and liberal minister; Juan Palarea y Blanes (1780-1842), guerrilla fighter and Liberal soldier; Julián Romea (1813-1868), romantic theater actor; Mariano Benavente (1818-1885), pediatrician; Antonete Gálvez (1819-1898), cantonal politician and revolutionary; Manuel Fernández Caballero (1835-1906), composer of zarzuelas; Mariano Padilla y Ramos (1842-1906), baritone; José Martínez Tornel (1845-1916), journalist and writer; Antonio García Alix (1852-1911), conservative politician and minister; Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Aguado, (1862-1930), actor and theater entrepreneur; Mariano Ruiz-Funes (1889-1953), jurist, Republican politician and minister; José Pérez Mateos (1884-1956) otolaryngologist and President of the Collegiate Medical Organization of Spain; Juan de la Cierva (1895-1936), engineer and inventor, creator of the autogyro and Pedro Flores (1897-1967), avant-garde painter.

Of those born in the XX century, the list of illustrious Murcians is extended with Juan González Moreno (1908-1996), sculptor and image maker; Ramón Gaya (1910-2005), painter and writer, National Prize for Plastic Arts; Jaime Campmany (1925-2005), journalist, novelist and satirical poet; Eloy Sánchez Rosillo (1948-), poet; Luis del Rivero (1950-), businessman president of the Sacyr Vallehermoso group; Juan del Olmo (1958-), judge; Jerónimo Tristante (1969-), novelist; Alejandro Valverde (1980-), 2018 world champion cyclist, overall winner of the 2006 and 2008 UCI ProTour circuit and of the 2009 Cycling Tour of Spain; Nicolás Almagro (1985-), tennis player who won seven ATP tournaments; Miguel Maldonado (1986-), comedian; Miguel Ángel López (1988-), world champion in the 20 km walk in 2015; Jaime Lorente (1991-), actor; Laura Gil (1992-), basketball player, Olympic medalist at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, bronze medalist at the 2018 World Cup and winner of two Eurobasket, Carlos Alcaraz (2003-). tennis player, and the musical groups M Clan, Second, Maldita Nerea, Varry Brava, Klaus & Kinski, Viva Suecia or the singer Muerdo.

• Personalities
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  Ibn Arab

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  Francisco Salzillo

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  Count of Floridablanca

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  Juan de la Cierva