Lugo - History

History

The city was probably founded by Celtic inhabitants of the region and dedicated to Lugos, a pan-Celtic God of light, oaths and arts. Later conquered by Paulus Fabius Maximus and called Lucus Augusti in 13 BC on the positioning of a Roman military camp, while the Roman Empire completed the conquest, in the North, of the Iberian Peninsula. Situated in what was the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis, it was the chief town of the tribe of the Capori. Though small it was the most important Roman town in what became Gallaecia during the Roman period, the seat of a conventus, one of three in Gallaecia, and later became one of the two capitals of Gallaecia, and gave its name to the Callaïci Lucenses. It was centrally situated in a large gold mining region, which during the Roman period was very active. The Conventus Lucensis, according to Pliny, began at the river Navilubio, and contained 16 peoples; besides the Celtici and Lebuni. Though these tribes were not powerful, and their names "barbarous" to Roman ears, there were among them 166,000 freemen. The city stood on one of the upper branches of the Minius (modern Minho), on the road from Bracara to Asturica, and had some famous baths, near from the bridge across the Minho.

Lucus was the seat of a bishopric by the later 5th century at the latest and remained an administrative center under the Suebi and Visigoths, before going into such a decline that the site was found to be deserted in the middle of the eighth century by bishop Odoario, who set about reviving it. Tenth century attempts at rebuilding its casas destructas (abandoned tenements) suggest that it remained a town only on paper: the seat of a bishopric, administered by a count, from which royal charters were issued. "Its commercial and industrial role was insignificant", Richard Fletcher wrote of 11th century Lugo.

During the Middle Ages Lugo, like Santiago de Compostela, was a center of pilgrimage, because the cathedral had the special privilege, it still retains today, of exposing to the public the consecrated host twenty-four hours a day. In the eighteenth century Lugo was granted the privilege of organizing the fairs of St. Froilán. During the Modern Age, Lugo had a certain supremacy, although other nearby towns such as Mondoñedo or Ribadeo disputed it. It was not until the division of the state into provinces in 1833 and the creation of provincial governments that Lugo has become the most important town from the province of Lugo, because of its capital status. This rise has been bolstered by the arrival of the first railroad to the city in 1875.

During the XX century the city continued to grow as the administration and services center of the province. In 1936, when the Civil War broke out, the city became quickly under the Nationalists control. In the 70s the city met important reforms, like the development of the Ceao Industrial Area (1979) and the complete restoration of the roman walls.

Infanta Elena, the elder daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain and fourth in the line of succession to the Spanish throne, is Duchess of Lugo since 1995.

In 2000, the inscription of the roman walls on UNESCO's World Heritage Site was an important event in the city.