Las Meninas (Spanish for 'The Ladies-in-waiting'pronounced[lasmeˈninas]) is a 1656 painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Baroque. It has become one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting for the way its complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and for the uncertain relationship it creates between the viewer and the figures depicted. (Full article...)
Image 4
Muhammad III (Arabic: محمد الثالث; 15 August 1257 – 21 January 1314) was the ruler of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula from 8 April 1302 until 14 March 1309, and a member of the Nasrid dynasty. He ascended the Granadan throne after the death of his father Muhammad II, which according to rumours, was caused by Muhammad III poisoning him. He had the reputation of being both cultured and cruel. Later in his life, he became visually impaired—which caused him to be absent from many government activities and to rely on high officials, especially the powerful VizierIbn al-Hakim al-Rundi. (Full article...)
Image 5
A carillonneur plays the 56-bell carillon of the Plummer Building, Rochester, Minnesota, US A carillon is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are cast in bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniously together. They are struck with clappers connected to a keyboard of wooden batons played with the hands and pedals played with the feet. Often housed in bell towers, carillons are usually owned by churches, universities, or municipalities. They can include an automatic system through which the time is announced and simple tunes are played throughout the day. (Full article...)
Image 6
Shekel minted by the Libyans during the war, depicting Herakles and a lion, with the legend ΛIBYΩN ("the Libyans"). Above the lion, the Phoenician letter M could stand for Mathos, a leader of the rebellion.
The Mercenary War, also known as the Truceless War, was a mutiny by troops that were employed by Carthage at the end of the First Punic War (264–241 BC), supported by uprisings of African settlements revolting against Carthaginian control. It lasted from 241 to late 238 or early 237 BC and ended with Carthage suppressing both the mutiny and the revolt. (Full article...)
Image 7
The Third of May 1808 in Madrid (commonly known as The Third of May 1808) and also known, in Spanish, as El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid or Los fusilamientos de la montaña del Príncipe Pío, or Los fusilamientos del tres de mayo, is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. In the work, Goya sought to commemorate Spanish resistance to Napoleon's armies during the occupation of Madrid in 1808 at the start of the Peninsular War. Along with its companion piece of the same size, The Second of May 1808 (or The Charge of the Mamelukes), it was commissioned by the provisional government of Spain at Goya's own suggestion shortly after the ousting of the French occupation and the restoration of King Ferdinand VII. (Full article...)
Image 8
Map of the Greek and Latin states in southern Greece c. 1278
Doménikos Theotokópoulos (Greek: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος, IPA:[ðoˈminikosθeotoˈkopulos]; 1 October 1541 – 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (Spanish pronunciation:[elˈɡɾeko]; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. El Greco was a nickname, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters often adding the word Κρής (Krḗs), which means "Cretan" in Ancient Greek. (Full article...)
Image 11
View of Badajoz, across the Guadiana river from the foothills of the San Cristóbal heights, by Eugène-Ferdinand Buttura
An M48 Patton tank of the Spanish Army on display at the El Goloso Museum of Armored Vehicles in October 2007. Tanks in the Spanish Army have over 90 years of history, from the French Renault FTs first delivered in 1919 to the Leopard 2 and B1 Centauro models of the early 21st century. The Spanish FTs took part in combat during the Rif War and participated in the first amphibious landing with tanks in history, at Alhucemas. In 1925, the Spanish Army began to undertake a program to develop and produce a Spanish tank, an upgraded version of the Renault FT, called the Trubia A4. Although the prototype performed well during testing, the tank was never put into mass production. Spain also experimented with the ItalianFiat 3000, acquiring one tank in 1925, and with another indigenous tank program called the Landesa. However, none of these evolved into a major armor program, and as a result the FT remained the most important tank, in numbers, in the Spanish Army until the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. (Full article...)
Image 13
Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado led the initial efforts to conquer Guatemala.
In a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish colonisers gradually incorporated the territory that became the modern country of Guatemala into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. Before the conquest, this territory contained a number of competing Mesoamerican kingdoms, the majority of which were Maya. Many conquistadors viewed the Maya as "infidels" who needed to be forcefully converted and pacified, disregarding the achievements of their civilization. The first contact between the Maya and European explorers came in the early 16th century when a Spanish ship sailing from Panama to Santo Domingo (Hispaniola) was wrecked on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1511. Several Spanish expeditions followed in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast. The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a prolonged affair; the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries. (Full article...)
Plate 34: Por una navaja (For a clasp knife). A garroted priest grasps a crucifix in his hands. Pinned to his chest is a description of the crime for which he was killed—possession of a knife.
The Disasters of War (Spanish: Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 82 prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spanish painter and printmakerFrancisco Goya (1746–1828). Although Goya did not make known his intention when creating the plates, art historians view them as a visual protest against the violence of the 1808 Dos de Mayo Uprising, the subsequent cruel war that ended in Spanish victory in the Peninsular War of 1808–1814 and the setbacks to the liberal cause following the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1814. During the conflicts between Napoleon's French Empire and Spain, Goya retained his position as first court painter to the Spanish crown and continued to produce portraits of the Spanish and French rulers. Although deeply affected by the war, he kept private his thoughts on the art he produced in response to the conflict and its aftermath. (Full article...)
The Leopardo 2E or Leopard 2A6E (E stands for España (Spanish for 'Spain')) is a variant of the German Leopard 2main battle tank (specifically the Leopard 2A6 variant), tailored to the requirements of the Spanish army, which acquired it as part of an armament modernization program named Programa Coraza, or Program Cuirass. The acquisition program for the Leopard 2E began in 1994, five years after the cancellation of the Lince tank program that culminated in an agreement to transfer 108 Leopard 2A4s to the Spanish army in 1998 and started the local production of the Leopard 2E in December 2002. Despite postponement of production owing to the 2003 merger between Santa Bárbara Sistemas and General Dynamics, and continued manufacturing issues between 2006 and 2007, 219 Leopard 2Es have been delivered to the Spanish army. (Full article...)
Image 21
The Lince (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈlinθe], meaning "Lynx") was a Spanish development programme for a proposed main battle tank that unfolded during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The intention was to replace the M47 and M48 Patton tanks that the Spanish Army had received under the U.S. Mutual Defense Assistance Act between 1954 and 1975, and to complement the AMX-30E tanks manufactured for the army during the 1970s. Companies from several nations, such as German Krauss-Maffei, Spanish Santa Bárbara, and French GIAT, made bids for the development contract. The main priorities were mobility and firepower, with secondary priority placed on protection; the Lince tank was to have been lighter and faster than its competitors. To achieve a sufficient level of firepower and protection, the Lince was to use Rheinmetall's120 mm L/44 tank-gun and German composite armour from the Leopard 2A4. (Full article...)
Image 22
Alfonso XIII in 1932, after having been renamed España
Alfonso XIII was the second of three España-classdreadnoughtbattleships built in the 1910s for the Spanish Navy. Named after King Alfonso XIII of Spain, the ship was not completed until 1915 owing to a shortage of materials that resulted from the start of World War I the previous year. The España class was ordered as part of a naval construction program to rebuild the fleet after the losses of the Spanish–American War; the program began in the context of closer Spanish relations with Britain and France. The ships were armed with a main battery of eight 305 mm (12 in) guns and were intended to support the French Navy in the event of a major European war. (Full article...)
Rokeby Venus, c. 1647–1651. 122 cm × 177 cm (48 in × 70 in). National Gallery, London. The Rokeby Venus (/ˈroʊkbi/ROHK-bee; also known as The Toilet of Venus, Venus at her Mirror, Venus and Cupid and, in Spanish, La Venus del espejo) is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. Completed between 1647 and 1651, and probably painted during the artist's visit to Italy, the work depicts the goddess Venus in a sensual pose, lying on a bed with her back facing the viewer, and looking into a mirror held by the Roman god of physical love, her son Cupid. The painting is in the National Gallery, London. (Full article...)
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈpeð̞ɾoalmoˈð̞oβ̞aɾkaβ̞aˈʝeɾo]) (born September 24, 1949 in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Almodóvar is the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular songs, irreverent humor, strong colors and glossy décor. He never judges his character's actions, whatever they do, but he presents them as they are in all their complexity. Desire, passion, family and identity are the director's favorite themes. Almodóvar’s films enjoy a worldwide following and he has become a major figure on the stage of world cinema.
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero was born on September 24, 1949 in Calzada de Calatrava, a rural small town of Ciudad Real, a province of Castilla–La Mancha in the administrative district of Almagro. La Mancha is the windswept region of flat lands made famous by Don Quixote. He was born as one of four children (two boys, two girls) in a large and impoverished family of peasant stock. His father, Antonio Almodóvar, who could barely read or write worked most of his life hauling barrels of wine by mule. Almodóvar's mother, Francisca Caballero, turned her son into a part time teacher of literacy in the village and also a letter reader and transcriber for the neighbors. When Pedro was eight years old, the family sent him to study at a religious boarding school in the city of Cáceres, Extremadura, in the west of the country, with the hope that he might someday become a priest.
The Alhambra (Arabic: الحمراء = Al-Ħamrā; literally "the red") is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs of Granada in southern Spain (known as Al-Andalus when the fortress was constructed), occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada.
Ana Santos Aramburo (born 1957) has been the director of the National Library of Spain since February 2013. Having received a degree in geography and history from the University of Zaragoza in Spain, she has spent much of her career working at the Complutense University of Madrid, first at the library of the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, and later serving as deputy director of the university library. Later she served as Director of the Historical Library Marquis of Valdecilla, General Director of Libraries and Archives of the City of Madrid, and Director of Cultural Action at the National Library. This photograph of Santos shows her at the headquarters of the National Library of Spain in Madrid.
A three-month old Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica) in Sierra de Gredos, Spain. These ibexes are strong mountain animals characterized by their large and flexible hooves and short legs. The two sexes of adults form separate social groups; juveniles stay with the female groups from birth until the following birth season, when they leave. Yearling males then join male groups, while females eventually return to their mothers' groups and stay several years.
The Spanish peseta is a former currency of Spain and, alongside the French franc, a former de facto currency in Andorra. It was introduced in 1868, replacing the peso, at a time when Spain was considering joining the Latin Monetary Union. Spain joined the euro in 1999, and the peseta was replaced by euro notes and coins in 2002.
Aneto is a mountain located in Benasque municipality, Aragon, area of the Pyreenes. The mountain is the highest mountain in the Pyrenees, and Spain's third-highest mountain.
Pablo Picasso (October 25, 1881 — April 8, 1973) was an artist and sculptor. Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain. This image was taken of him in 1962, eleven years before his death.
The Spanish painted frog (Discoglossus jeanneae) is a species of frog in the family Alytidae. Endemic to Spain, it mostly lives in open areas, pine groves and shrublands. It feeds mostly on insects and worms.
Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares (1587–1645) was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip IV and minister. As prime minister from 1621 to 1643, he over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform. His policies of committing Spain to recapture the Dutch Republic led to his major involvement in the Thirty Years War. This portrait was completed in 1634, with its composition referring to Olivares' military leadership in the service of King Philip.
The Puente Nuevo, whose name means "new bridge" in Spanish, is the newer and larger of two bridges that span the 120m-deep chasm that divides the city of Ronda in southern Spain.
Amalia de Llano (April 29, 1822 – July 6, 1874) was a Spanish countess and writer. This 1853 oil-on-canvas portrait by Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz shows her seated in a fine armchair wearing sumptuous clothes, with her youth and beauty accentuated by the dark background, and is quite unlike a traditional Spanish portrait of the period.
The peaks of the Central Massif overlook the village of Sotres in Cabrales, located in the Picos de Europa, a mountain range in northern Spain forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains. The name (literally: "Peaks of Europe") is believed to derive from being the first European landforms visible to mariners arriving from the Americas.
The Torre Agbar is a landmark skyscraper and the third tallest building in Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by FrencharchitectJean Nouvel, who stated that the shape of the Torre Agbar was inspired by the mountains of Montserrat that surround Barcelona, and by the shape of a geyser of water rising into the air. Its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 window openings cut out of the structural concrete.
The Madrid Metro is a rapid transit system serving the Spanish capital, Madrid. It was inaugurated in 1919 by King Alfonso, with a single line which ran for 3.48 km (2.16 mi) between Puerta del Sol and Cuatro Caminos, with eight stops. The present system has 301 stations on 13 lines plus one branch line, totalling 294 km (183 mi).
Indigenous ethnic groups of El Salvador, prior to Spanish conquest
The Spanish conquest of El Salvador was the campaign undertaken by the Spanishconquistadores against the Late PostclassicMesoamerican polities in the territory that is now incorporated into the modern Central American country of El Salvador. El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, and is dominated by two mountain ranges running east–west. Its climate is tropical, and the year is divided into wet and dry seasons. Before the conquest the country formed a part of the Mesoamerican cultural region, and was inhabited by a number of indigenous peoples, including the Pipil, the Lenca, the Xinca, and Maya. Native weaponry consisted of spears, bows and arrows, and wooden swords with inset stone blades; they wore padded cotton armour. (Full article...)
Image 3
The Spanish American wars of independence (Spanish: Guerras de independencia hispanoamericanas) took place across the Spanish Empire during the early 19th century. The struggles in both hemispheres began shortly after the outbreak of the Peninsular War, forming part of the broader context of the Napoleonic Wars. The conflict unfolded between the royalists, those who favoured a unitary monarchy, and the patriots, those who promoted either autonomous constitutional monarchies or republics, separated from Spain and from each other. These struggles ultimately led to the independence and secession of continental Spanish America from metropolitan rule, which, beyond this conflict, resulted in a process of Balkanization in Hispanic America. Thus, the strict period of military campaigns ranges from the Battle of Chacaltaya (1809) in present-day Bolivia, to the Battle of Tampico (1829) in Mexico.[page needed] (Full article...)
Image 4
Eugenio Lascorz y Labastida (26 March 1886 – 1 June 1962) was a Spanish lawyer who claimed to be a descendant of the medieval Laskaris family, which had ruled the Byzantine Empire in Nicaea from 1204 to 1261. In 1917 he legally changed his paternal surname from Lascorz to Láscaris, alleging that the former was a Hispanicization of the latter. Later he began styling himself as Príncipe Eugenio Láscaris Comneno (Prince Eugene Laskaris Komnenos). As the supposed titular Emperor of Constantinople,' Eugenio used the regnal name Eugene II Lascaris Comnenus. In addition to his royal and imperial claims, which he supported with fabricated and contradictory genealogies, Lascorz also claimed the titles "Prince Porphyrogenitus", Duke of Athens and Grand Master of the self-proclaimed "Sovereign and Imperial Order of Constantine the Great" (not to be confused with the Constantinian Order of Saint George) and the "Order of Saint Eugene of Trebizond".' (Full article...)
The Battle of the Lippe was a cavalry action fought on 2 September 1595 on the banks of the Lippe river, in Germany, between a corps of Spanish cavalry led by Juan de Córdoba and a corps of Dutch cavalry, supported by English troops, led by Philip of Nassau. The Dutch stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, taking advantage of the fact that the bulk of the Spanish army was busied in operations in France, besieged the town of Groenlo in Gelderland, but the elderly governor of the citadel of Antwerp, Cristóbal de Mondragón, organized a relief army and forced Maurice to lift the siege. Mondragón next moved to Wesel, positioning his troops on the southern bank of the Lippe river to cover Rheinberg from a Dutch attack. Maurice aimed then, relying on his superior army, to entice Mondragón into a pitched battle, planning to use an ambush to draw the Spanish army into a trap. However, the plan was discovered by the Spanish commander, who organized a counter-ambush. (Full article...)
Image 8
Abel Azcona
Abel Azcona Marcos (born 1 April 1988) is a Spanish artist, specializing in performance art. His work includes installations, sculptures, and video art. He is known as the "enfant terrible" of Spanish contemporary art. His first works dealt with personal identity, violence and the limits of pain; his later works are of a more critical, political and social nature. (Full article...)
El Alma al Aire (transl.The Bared Soul) is the sixth studio album recorded by Spanish singer-songwriter Alejandro Sanz. It was released on 25 September 2000 by Warner Music Spain, following the success of Más (1997) and the artist's hiatus from music in 1999. It is a pop album that features more ballads than its predecessor, as well as uptempo numbers. The album was produced by Sanz's frequent collaborator Emanuele Ruffinengo, while other musicians, including Vicente Amigo, returned to collaborate with the artist following Más. (Full article...)
Site of the battle at the terraces of Ollantaytambo
The Battle of Ollantaytambo (Spanish: Batalla de Ollantaytambo, IPA:[baˈtaʎaðeoʎantajˈtambo]) took place in January 1537, between the forces of Inca emperor Manco Inca and a Spanish expedition led by Hernando Pizarro during the Spanish conquest of Peru. A former ally of the Spaniards, Manco Inca rebelled in May 1536, and besieged a Spanish garrison in the city of Cusco. To end the stand-off, the besieged mounted a raid against the emperor's headquarters in the town of Ollantaytambo. The expedition, commanded by Hernando Pizarro, included 100 Spaniards and some 30,000 Indian auxiliaries against an Inca army of more than 20,000. (Full article...)
Image 14
The current Basque coat of arms (Euskal autonomi erkidegoaren armarria) is the official coat of arms of the Basque Country, Autonomous community of Spain. It consists of a party per cross representing the three historical territories of Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay, as well as a fourth, void quarter. The arms are ringed by a regal wreath of oak leaves, symbolic of the Gernikako Arbola. The fourth quarter constituted since the late 19th century the linked chains of Navarre; however, following a legal suit by the Navarre Government claiming that the usage of the arms of a region on the flag of another was illegal, the Constitutional Court of Spain ordered the removal of the chains of Navarre in a judgement of 1986. (Full article...)
View of Castelnuovo in the 16th century – engraving by an unknown 17th-century artist
The siege of Castelnuovo was an engagement during the Ottoman-Habsburg struggle for control of the Mediterranean, which took place in July 1539 at the walled town of Castelnuovo, present-day Herceg Novi, Montenegro. Castelnuovo had been conquered by elements of various Spanish tercios the year before during the failed campaign of the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire in Eastern Mediterranean waters. The walled town was besieged by land and sea by a powerful Ottoman army under Hayreddin Barbarossa, who offered an honourable surrender to the defenders. These terms were rejected by the Spanish commanding officer Francisco de Sarmiento and his captains even though they knew that the Holy League's fleet, defeated at the Battle of Preveza, could not relieve them. During the siege, Barbarossa's army suffered heavy losses due to the stubborn resistance of Sarmiento's men. Even the Venetian refused the promised naval link to Castelnuovo with the supplies and reinforcements; after a general troop parliament, the commanding officer Francisco de Sarmiento asked his captains what his answer should be to Barbarossa's offer to surrender. The captains responded: "Que vengan cuando quieran" (Let them come whenever they want). However, Castelnuovo eventually fell into Ottoman hands and almost all the Spanish defenders, including Sarmiento, were killed. The loss of the town ended the Christian attempt to regain control of the Eastern Mediterranean. The courage displayed by the Old Tercio of Naples during this last stand, however, was praised and admired throughout Europe and was the subject of numerous poems and songs. (Full article...)
"Nunca Te Olvidaré" (transl. "I'll Never Forget You") is a song by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias for his third studio album Cosas del Amor (1998). It was written by Iglesias with Rafael Pérez-Botija handling its production. A power ballad, it is a confessional song of staying in love through time and other lovers. Upon its release, it was met with generally positive reactions from music critics, although one reviewer was less impressed with it along with the other ballads from the album. The song was featured as the main theme for the 1999 Mexican telenovela of the same name. (Full article...)
1858 map of Salamanca shows empty spaces in the southwest corner of the city where the forts were located
The siege of the Salamanca forts (17–27 June 1812) saw an 800-man Imperial French garrison directed by Lieutenant Colonel Duchemin defend three fortified convents in the city of Salamanca against the 48,000-strong Allied army led by Arthur Wellesley, Lord Wellington. During this time, the French commander MarshalAuguste de Marmont led a 40,000-man French army in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the garrison. An Allied failure to bring sufficient artillery ammunition caused the siege to be prolonged. The garrison repulsed a premature British attempt to storm the fortified convents on 23 June, but finally surrendered four days later after an artillery bombardment breached one fort and set another one on fire. During his maneuvering, Marmont formed the idea that Wellington was only willing to act on the defensive. This mistaken notion would contribute to Marmont's defeat at the Battle of Salamanca a month later. (Full article...)
The following are images from various Spain-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1The pro-independence forces delivered a crushing defeat to the royalists and secured the independence of Peru in the 1824 battle of Ayacucho. (from History of Spain)
Image 39The Port of Seville in the late 16th century. Seville became one of the most populous and cosmopolitan European cities after the expeditions to the New World. (from History of Spain)
Image 411894 satirical cartoon depicting the tacit accord for seamless government change (turnismo) between the leaders of two dynastic parties (Sagasta and Cánovas del Castillo), with the country being lied in an allegorical fashion. (from History of Spain)
Image 44El paseo de las Delicias, a 1784–1785 painting by Ramón Bayeu depicting a meeting of members of the aristocracy in the aforementioned location. (from History of Spain)
Featured article – 
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
Image: Royal Household of Spain; Restoration: Lise BroerA Grant of Arms by Philip II of Spain to Alonso de Mesa and Hernando de Mesa, signed 25 November 1566. In Spanish heraldry, coats of arms were granted based almost entirely on military service, which made it possible for commoners to join the ranks of the Spanish nobility. Also unique to Spain was that titles could be inherited through females and via illegitimacy.
Photograph credit: Biblioteca Nacional de EspañaAna Santos Aramburo (born 1957) has been the director of the National Library of Spain since February 2013. Having received a degree in geography and history from the University of Zaragoza in Spain, she has spent much of her career working at the Complutense University of Madrid, first at the library of the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, and later serving as deputy director of the university library. Later she served as Director of the Historical Library Marquis of Valdecilla, General Director of Libraries and Archives of the City of Madrid, and Director of Cultural Action at the National Library. This photograph of Santos shows her at the headquarters of the National Library of Spain in Madrid.
Photograph: J.Ligero & I.BarriosA three-month old Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica) in Sierra de Gredos, Spain. These ibexes are strong mountain animals characterized by their large and flexible hooves and short legs.
Banknote: Bank of SpainThe Spanish peseta is a former currency of Spain and, alongside the French franc, a former de facto currency in Andorra. It was introduced in 1868, replacing the peso, at a time when Spain was considering joining the Latin Monetary Union. Spain joined the euro in 1999, and the peseta was replaced by euro notes and coins in 2002.
Photo credit: David IliffThe Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts (Valencian: Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía) is an opera house located in Valencia, Spain. The last to be completed of the City of Arts and Sciences complex, it was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. The 14-story structure opened on 8 October 2005.
Painting: Marià FortunyThe Spanish Wedding is an oil on panel painting by Marià Fortuny completed over a two-year period ending in 1870. It depicts the signing of a wedding contract in 18th century Spain and was influenced heavily by the works of Francisco Goya, whom the artist admired. It is currently exhibited at the National Art Museum of Catalonia.
Photograph: Benny TrappThe Spanish painted frog (Discoglossus jeanneae) is a species of frog in the family Alytidae. Endemic to Spain, it mostly lives in open areas, pine groves and shrublands. It feeds mostly on insects and worms.
Photo credit: David IliffThe Tagus River, seen here passing through the World Heritage listed city of Toledo, Spain. It is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula at 1,038 kilometres (645 mi). It begins its journey in the Albarracín mountains in Spain, and follows a very constricted course for much of its length before reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Portugal.
Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares (1587–1645) was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip IV and minister. As prime minister from 1621 to 1643, he over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform. His policies of committing Spain to recapture the Dutch Republic led to his major involvement in the Thirty Years War. This portrait was completed in 1634, with its composition referring to Olivares' military leadership in the service of King Philip.
Painting credit: Federico de Madrazo y KuntzAmalia de Llano (April 29, 1822 – July 6, 1874) was a Spanish countess and writer. This 1853 oil-on-canvas portrait by Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz shows her seated in a fine armchair wearing sumptuous clothes, with her youth and beauty accentuated by the dark background, and is quite unlike a traditional Spanish portrait of the period.
The peaks of the Central Massif overlook the village of Sotres in Cabrales, located in the Picos de Europa, a mountain range in northern Spain forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains. The name (literally: "Peaks of Europe") is believed to derive from being the first European landforms visible to mariners arriving from the Americas.
Photo credit: DiliffThe Torre Agbar is a landmark skyscraper and the third tallest building in Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, who stated that the shape of the Torre Agbar was inspired by the mountains of Montserrat that surround Barcelona, and by the shape of a geyser of water rising into the air. Its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 window openings cut out of the structural concrete.
Photo credit: David IliffThe Casa Milà, a 1912 work by Catalán architect Antoni Gaudi, in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Spain. Gaudí's fascination with trencadís-influenced decoration and curves (predating biomorphism by almost 20 years) can be seen here.
The Madrid Metro is a rapid transit system serving the Spanish capital, Madrid. It was inaugurated in 1919 by King Alfonso, with a single line which ran for 3.48 km (2.16 mi) between Puerta del Sol and Cuatro Caminos, with eight stops. The present system has 301 stations on 13 lines plus one branch line, totalling 294 km (183 mi).
Coin design credit: Duchy of ParmaThe doubloon was a Spanish gold coin worth two escudos or 32 reales weighing 6.867 grams (0.221 troy ounces), introduced in 1537. It became the model for several other gold coins issued in Europe, including this 1626 two-doppie gold coin issued in Piacenza in northern Italy by the Duchy of Parma, depicting Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, on the obverse. The coin is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History.
.jpg)
.jpg)
_jeannaea.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Good article – 
.jpg)
_Declaraci%C3%B3n_conjunta_de_Pablo_Iglesias_y_Pedro_S%C3%A1nchez.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
The pro-independence forces delivered a crushing defeat to the royalists and secured the independence of Peru in the 1824 battle of Ayacucho. (from History of Spain)
The greatest extent of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse, c. 500, showing Territory lost after Vouillé in light orange (from History of Spain)
The Christian kingdoms of Hispania and the Islamic Almohad empire c. 1210
Two women and a man during the siege of the Alcázar (from History of Spain)
Felipe González signing the treaty of accession to the European Economic Community on 12 June 1985. (from History of Spain)
Panoramic view of the lower level patio of the Palace (from Spanish Golden Age)
Façade of the Cathedral of Valladolid (from Spanish Golden Age)
Map of territories that were once part of the Spanish Empire (from History of Spain)
The Third of May 1808, Napoleon's troops shoot hostages. Goya (from History of Spain)
Jamón ibérico (from Culture of Spain)
Execution of Torrijos and his men in 1831. Ferdinand VII took repressive measures against the liberal forces in his country. (from History of Spain)
Illustration depicting the (now lost) Luzaga's Bronze, an example of the Celtiberian script. (from History of Spain)
People's militias attacking on a Rebel position in Somosierra in the early stages of the war. (from History of Spain)
Visigothic church, San Pedro de la Nave. Zamora. Spain (from History of Spain)
In ictu oculi ("In the blink of an eye"), a vanitas by Juan de Valdés Leal (from Spanish Golden Age)
Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See in Sevilla. (from Culture of Spain)
Ruins of Guernica (from History of Spain)
Wedding portrait of the Catholic Monarchs (from History of Spain)
The title page of the Gramática de la lengua castellana (1492), the first grammar of a modern European language to be published. (from History of Spain)
Visigothic Hispania and its regional divisions in 700, prior to the Muslim conquest (from History of Spain)
The realms of Philip II of Spain (from Spanish Golden Age)
Franco visiting Tolosa in 1948 (from History of Spain)
A battle of the Reconquista from the Cantigas de Santa Maria (from History of Spain)
Taking of Oran by Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros in 1509. (from History of Spain)
Ethnology of the Iberian Peninsula c. 200 BC (from History of Spain)
Inner view of Granada Cathedral (from Spanish Golden Age)
Recognition of the Duke of Anjou as King of Spain, under the name of Philip V, November 16, 1700 (from History of Spain)
Battle of the First Carlist War, by Francisco de Paula Van Halen (from History of Spain)
Members of the provisional government after the 1868 Glorious Revolution, by Jean Laurent. (from History of Spain)
The Second of May 1808 was the beginning of the popular Spanish resistance against Napoleon. (from History of Spain)
The Port of Seville in the late 16th century. Seville became one of the most populous and cosmopolitan European cities after the expeditions to the New World. (from History of Spain)
1894 satirical cartoon depicting the tacit accord for seamless government change (turnismo) between the leaders of two dynastic parties (Sagasta and Cánovas del Castillo), with the country being lied in an allegorical fashion. (from History of Spain)![Image 42Detail of the votive crown of Recceswinth from the Treasure of Guarrazar, (Toledo-Spain) hanging in Madrid. The hanging letters spell [R]ECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET [King R. offers this]. (from History of Spain)](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Corona_de_%2829049230050%29.jpg/60px-Corona_de_%2829049230050%29.jpg)
Detail of the votive crown of Recceswinth from the Treasure of Guarrazar, (Toledo-Spain) hanging in Madrid. The hanging letters spell [R]ECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET [King R. offers this]. (from History of Spain)
Episode of the 1854 Spanish Revolution in the Puerta del Sol, by Eugenio Lucas Velázquez. (from History of Spain)
El paseo de las Delicias, a 1784–1785 painting by Ramón Bayeu depicting a meeting of members of the aristocracy in the aforementioned location. (from History of Spain)
Celebrations of the proclamation of the 2nd Republic in Barcelona. (from History of Spain)
The Iberian Peninsula in the 3rd century BC (from History of Spain)
The Virgin of the Rosary (1675–80) by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (from Spanish Golden Age)
A map of Europe in 1648, after the Peace of Westphalia (from History of Spain)
The Conquest of Tenochtitlán (from History of Spain)
Proclamation of the Spanish Republic in Madrid (from History of Spain)
An 18th-century map of the Iberian Peninsula (from History of Spain)
Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain at the Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants in June 1660, part of the process to put an end to the Franco-Spanish War (1635–59). (from History of Spain)
The successful 1925 Alhucemas landing turned the luck in the Rif War towards Spain's favour. (from History of Spain)
Roman Empire, 3rd century (from History of Spain)
Christopher Columbus leads expedition to the New World, 1492, sponsored by Spanish crown (from History of Spain)
Charles I of Spain (better known in the English-speaking world as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) was the most powerful European monarch of his day. (from History of Spain)
Paella mixta (from Culture of Spain)
Plaza Mayor with the Casa de la Panadería to the left (from Spanish Golden Age)
al-Andalus at its greatest extent, 720 (from History of Spain)
Cabeza de Luis Buñuel, sculptor's work by Iñaki, in the center Buñuel Calanda. (from Culture of Spain)
The explosion of the USS Maine launched the Spanish–American War in April 1898 (from History of Spain)
The promulgation of the Constitution of 1812, oil painting by Salvador Viniegra. (from History of Spain)
Visigothic King Roderic haranguing his troops before the Battle of Guadalete (from History of Spain)
The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718 (from History of Spain).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_en_Prins_Juan_Carlos,_Bestanddeelnr_254-9762.jpg)
.jpg)
_-_Fondo_Car-Kutxa_Fototeka.jpg)
.jpeg)
.jpg)
![Image 42Detail of the votive crown of Recceswinth from the Treasure of Guarrazar, (Toledo-Spain) hanging in Madrid. The hanging letters spell [R]ECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET [King R. offers this]. (from History of Spain)](/wiki/File:Corona_de_(29049230050).jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)
Commons
Wikibooks
Wikidata
Wikinews
Wikiquote
Wikisource
Wikiversity
Wikivoyage
Wiktionary
