GERONA, the capital of the province of Gerona in north eastern Spain, on the railway from Barcelona to Perpignan in France and on the right bank of the river Ter, at its confluence with the Ona, a small right-hand tributary. Pop. (193o) Gerona is the ancient Gerunda, a city of the Auscetani. It claims to be the place in which St. Paul and St. James first rested when they came to Spain and it became the see of a bishop about 247. It was for a long time in the hands of the Moors whose emir, Suleiman, was in alliance with Pippin the Short, king of the Franks about 759. It was taken by Charlemagne in 785, but the Moors regained and sacked it in 795 and it was not until 1015 that they were finally expelled. It gave the title of count to the king of Aragon's eldest son. It has been besieged no fewer than twenty-five times in all, and only four of the sieges have resulted in its capture. Its noblest resistance was in 1809 when it was besieged in May by the French with 35,000 troops under Verdier, Augereau and Gonvion St. Cyr; forty batteries were erected against it and a heavy bombardment maintained ; but under the leadership of Mariano Alvarez de Castro it held out till famine and fever compelled a capitulation on December 12. The French, it is said, had spent 20,000 bombs and 6o,000 cannon balls, and their loss was estimated at 15,000 men.
The older part of the town occupies the steep slope of the Montjuich or Hill of the Capuchins; the newer portion stretches down into the plain and beyond the Una. There are still remains of the city walls, and the hill is crowned by what were at one time very strong fortifications, now put to other uses. The cathedral is a fine specimen of Gothic architecture; the nave measures 73 f t. from side to side. The old cathedral on the same site was used as a mosque by the Moors, and on their expulsion in 1015 it appears to have been greatly modified if not entirely rebuilt. New works were carried out during the 14th century, but it was not till the beginning of the 15th that the work on the present structure was really begun. The collegiate church of San Feliu (St. Felix) is mainly of the 14th century, but was modi fied in the 16th and its façade dates from the 18th. The spire is conspicuous. The Benedictine church of San Pedro de Galligans (or de los Gallos) is an interesting Romanesque building of early date. It is named from the small river Galligans, an affluent of the Ona, which flows through the city. In the same neighbourhood is a small church with a rare Spanish example of a transverse tri apsal plan. Gerona is still the seat of a bishop. There is a public library. Paper, cotton and woollen goods are extensively manu factured.