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BIFI 2006 - II International Conference, Zaragoza (Spain)
From Physics to Biology: the interface between experiment and computation
February, 8, 9, 10, and 11, 2006
BIFI (Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems). University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
Weather information
Zaragoza is a windy city. In February, the temperature is occasionally below 0°C, with the mean
temperature being 8°C. The weather is rarely rainy in Zaragoza (in February, the average precipitat
ion is 20.3 mm). More information at weather.com (Zaragoza).
Tourist information
Below, you can find information about the city of Zaragoza, and several links to external websites with further information.
Those interested in nature and winter sports will enjoy the Pyrenees, a mountain chain acting as a n
atural border between Spain and France. There are five winter resorts in the Aragonese Pyrenees, at dis
tances in the range 154 Km - 227 Km from Zaragoza (most of the distance is by motorway). More informati
on about the Pyrenees can be obtained following these external links:
Zaragoza (English Saragossa) is the capital of the Zaragoza province, in the autonomous
community (region) of Aragon, Northeastern Spain, lying on the south bank of
the river Ebro.
Toward the end of the 1st century BC, the
Celtiberian town of Salduba at the site was taken by the Romans, who made it
a colony under Emperor Augustus with the name of Caesaraugusta (from which
its Arabic name Saraqustah and its present name were derived).
The chief
commercial and military station in the Ebro valley, it was one of the first
towns in Spain to be Christianized, and it had a bishop by the middle of the
3rd century AD.
In 380 a church synod at Zaragoza condemned the
Priscillianist heresy of absolute renunciation of all sense pleasures.
After
falling to the Germanic Suebi and then to the Visigoths in the 5th century,
the town was taken by the Moors c. 714.
In 778 it was besieged by the
Frankish king Charlemagne, who had to withdraw because of a Saxon rebellion
in his domain.
After being captured by the Almoravids in 1110, Zaragoza was
taken by King Alfonso I of Aragon in 1118 and thereafter enjoyed three and a
half centuries of prosperity as capital of Aragon.
In the
Peninsular War it was famed for the heroic resistance of its citizens under
Gen. José de Palafox y Melzi during a protracted siege (1808-09) by the
French, who finally took the city. Among the defenders was María Agustín,
the "Maid of Zaragoza," whose exploits are described in Lord Byron's poem
Childe Harold.
The seat of an archbishop, Zaragoza has two cathedrals, the older of which
is the Catedral de La Seo (Latin sedes), or Catedral del Salvador, chiefly a
Gothic building (1119-1520) but showing some traces of the earlier
Romanesque church built on the site of the first mosque erected in Spain.
The Catedral Nuestra Señora del Pilar, dedicated to the Virgin of
the Pillar who is patron of all Spain, commemorates the traditional
appearance on Jan. 2, AD 40, of the Virgin Mary standing on a pillar erected
in honour of Saint James the Great, whose shrine is at Santiago de
Compostela. The cathedral was begun in 1681 to a design by Francisco Herrera
the Younger (El Mozo) and contains some frescos by Goya. The 14th-century
Gothic churches of San Pablo and the Magdalena and the Renaissance church of
Santa Engracia are also notable. Outstanding secular buildings include La
Lonja, or The Exchange, in Plateresque Gothic style; the Palace of the
Counts of Luna (1537), in which the Court of Justice sits; and the
17th-century Palace of the Condes de Sástago y Argillo. The Aljafería
Palace, to the west of the city, contains an oratory dome and tower that are
among Spain's best examples of Islamic civil architecture. The University of
Zaragoza was founded in 1474, the medical school being its most famous
faculty, but the buildings date from later periods.
Zaragoza is an industrial centre and the site of the annual National Trade
Fair, which begins October 12. Its industries have expanded with the supply
of hydroelectric power from the dams in the Aragonese Pyrenees and of oil
from the pipeline from Rota (near Cádiz). It is also a busy railway junction
and a trade centre for the agricultural products of the surrounding fertile
river basin watered by the Canal Imperial and the Ebro, Huerva, and Gállego
rivers. Pop. (est.) 650,000.
| The San Salvador Cathedral: Facade of La Seo.
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The Aljafería Palace:
example of Islamic civil architecture.
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| The Basílica del Pilar:
dedicated to the Virgin of
the Pillar.
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The Múdejar style:
detail of the cathedral of San Salvador.
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| The
Roman theatre
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The University Assembly Hall: The "Paraninfo"
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| The Ebro river.
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The St. Paul Church
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