In full AVILA DE LOS CABALLEROS, city and capital of Avila province, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma ("autonomous community"), central Spain. The city of Avila is situated on the Adaja River at 3,715 feet (1,132m) above sea level and is surrounded by the lofty Sierra de Gredos (south) and the Sierra de Guadarrama (east).
The city lies 54 miles (87 km) west of Madrid. A pre-Roman settlement on the site became part of Roman Lusitania and was known as Abula, or Avela, before falling (c 714) to the Moors. It was recaptured for the Christians by Alfonso VI in 1088.
Avila's walls, in polygonal form and extending 8,202 feet (2,500 m) in circumference, were built in the 12th century and encompassed the whole of ancient Avila; the modern part of the city lies
outside. With the expulsion of the Moriscos (people of Moorish descent) in 1607-10, the city's commerce declined.
Avila has been called the "finest medieval remnant in Spain" and is a noted tourist centre. Historic landmarks include the Gothic cathedral (begun c. 1091, completed 13th-15th century), in which the work of the goldsmith Juan de Arfe y Villafén (16th century) is preserved; the Convent of Santo Tomás (1482-93), containing the tombs of Tomás de Torquemada, who was the first grand inquisitor of Spain, and of Don Juan, the only son
of Ferdinand and Isabella; the Romanesque Basilica of San Vicente; and the Encarnación convent, built on the site of the house of the mystic St Teresa, a native of Avila.
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