Caravaca de la Cruz

Historia

Caravaca de la Cruz is a town and municipality of southeastern Spain in the province of Murcia, near the left bank of the River Argos, a tributary of the Segura. This city is the capital of the northwest Region of Murcia. It has a population of 26,449 as of 2010 . In 1900 it had 15,846 inhabitants.It is the Fifth Holy City of Catholic Christianity, having been granted the privilege to celebrate the jubilee year in perpetuity in 1998 by the then Pope John Paul II), along with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Camaleño . It celebrates its jubilee every seven years; the first being in 2003, when it was visited by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. In 2010 the second jubilee was celebrated, and it surpassed the one million mark of visits received in 2003. Festivities of International Tourist Interest since 2004.Caravaca is dominated by the medieval Castle of Santa Cruz, and contains several convents and a fine parish church, with a miraculous cross celebrated for its healing power, in honor of which a yearly festival is held on 3 May. Caravaca is home to many monuments and museums, many of which are important tourist attractions. The hills which extend to the north are rich in marble and iron. The town is a considerable industrial centre, with large iron-works, tanneries and paper, chocolate and oil factories.