About Vic Medieval Town
Vic, sometimes known as Vich, is the capital of the Osona county of the province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. Vic can be found 69 km inland from Barcelona halfway between Barcelona and the Pyrenees. Vic lies in the middle of the Plains of Vic on the banks of the river Mèder. The small Catalan city of Vic is an excellent day trip from Barcelona by train, bus or car.
The Buildings in Vic today are of Roman and medieval origin, with the city being founded in the 4th Century BC by an Iberian tribe known as the Ausa. The town fell under roman Rule and later Visgoth rule. Vic was completely destroyed by fire in 826 in a battle with the Saracens. Since then Vic has thrived and grown into a prosperous town thanks to industries like leather and meat (saussage) production. The construction of the Transpirinenc railway in 1875 from Barcelona to Vic (today known as the R3 Rodalies line) brought connection to the the capital of Barcelona and helped to secure Vic as a popular tourist destination.
Vic is famous for meat products such as llonganissas (long thin chorizo like saussage that is served sliced and cold or hot), fuet (peppered sausages served sliced and cold) and Butifarra (pork Sausage served hot with ali-oli garlic and mayonnaise sauce and white beans).
Vic has plenty of old world charm and a collection of very good museums. Vic is a popular day trip for tourists and residents of Barcelona and hosts several events throughout the year which make it especially worth a visit and is one of my favourite Winter destinations.
History of the town of Vic
Vic dates from at least the 4th Century BC when it was called Ausa for the Iberian Ausetanos tribe. During the Roman Empire the town grew is size and was an important town in the Region gaining a temple in the second century AD.
Ausa continued to expand under Visigoth rule until until it was isolated between the Moorish invasion of the Iberian peninsula from the south of Spain and the Christian lands to the north. Ausa was almost completely destroyed during a Cristian-Moor battle in 788 AD.
The town was conquered by Cristian forces under Wilfred, Count of Urgel and renamed it Vich, derived from latin Vicus Ausonae. A castle was built in the area of the Roman temple burying it in the foundations of the castle.
In the Middle ages, the city had two parts, the Episcopal part under the jurisdiction of the Cathedral and the part around the castle controlled by the counts. Wilfred raised a defensive wall around the town with seven gates.
The land belonging to the church was handed over to the crown and in 1450, Alfonso V of Aragon bought out the Montcada counts. The three centuries which followed Vic suffered the consequences wars against the French and then during the War of the Spanish Succession, when Vic sided with the Archduke of Austria.
The 17th and 18th centuries saw economic recovery in Vic with the emergence of a world famous leather tanning and leather goods industry that during the the Industrial Revolution grew into an efficient mechanised process. The arrival of the railway from Barcelona once again made Vic the capital of the Osona Region of Catalonia.
During the Spanish Civil war (1936 to 1939) Francoist forces took the town and many churches and medieval buildings were damaged or burnt.
To read more about the historic buildings of Vic, follow the Historic walking route below.
