Vic, Spain

Vic (Catalan pronunciation: [bik]; Spanish: Vic) is the capital of the comarca of Osona, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Vic is 69 km (43 mi) from Barcelona and 60 km (37 mi) from Girona.

Vic
Municipality
Plaça Major de Vic
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Vic
Vic Show map of Catalonia Vic Show map of Spain
Coordinates: 41°55′49″N 2°15′17″E
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Catalonia
Province	Barcelona
Comarca	Osona
Government
• Mayor	Albert Castells (Junts)
Area [1]
• Total	30.6 km2 (11.8 sq mi)
Elevation	484 m (1,588 ft)
Population  (2024)[2]
• Total	49,530 (register office 2,024)
Demonym(s)	Vigatà, vigatana
Climate	Cfb
Website	vic.cat

Roman temple

Geography

Vic
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     42     8 −1     39     11 −1     50     14 5     61     17 8     93     21 10     79     26 13     51     29 16     93     29 16     82     24 14     78     18 8     54     12 4     46     8 1 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm Source: [3]
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     1.7     46 30     1.5     51 31     2     57 40     2.4     62 46     3.7     70 50     3.1     79 56     2     85 60     3.7     84 60     3.2     75 57     3.1     65 46     2.1     53 39     1.8     47 33 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

Vic lies in the middle of the Plain of Vic, equidistant from Barcelona and the Pyrenees.

Vic has persistent fog in winter as a result of a thermal inversion, with temperatures as low as -10 °C, an absolute record of -24 °C and episodes of cold and severe snowstorms. For this reason, and also for the relatively moist summers, the region's natural vegetation includes the pubescent oak typical of the sub-Mediterranean climates of eastern France, Northern Italy and the Balkans.

Names

Originally known as Auso, it was known in Latin as Vicus Ausonae.^[4] From Latin vicus (neighborhood or urban population), it became Vich in Old Catalan.

In 1538, Lorenzo de Padilla writes Vic Bique^[5] and it appears as Vique in the Memorial of the Bishop of Vic, Antonio Pascual (ca. 1694)^[6] In 1715, Spain's Nueva Planta decrees for Catalonia gave the city the Spanish name of Vique;^[7] an invention which tried to avoid a consonant ending that is uncomfortable in the Spanish language, applying the logic of cases such as Mastrique (Maastricht).^[8] However, this artificial variant only remained for a time in Spanish official texts and, as early as 1789, it reappeared in the gazetteer as Vich.^[8]

In 1913 the new orthographic regulations by the Institute for Catalan Studies of 1913 eliminated from the Catalan language the mute h at the end of the word and in intervocalic position to simplify the spelling (Normes ortogràfiques).^[9] Other analogous cases are those of Montjuïch, Hostalrich and Reixach, which are now written as Montjuïc, Hostalric and Reixac, respectively.

Since 1982, the official name has been Vic.^[10]

History

The town has been described as "a hotbed of secessionist sentiment".^[11]

A car bombing by the Basque separatist group ETA in 1991 killed 10 people in Vic.^{[citation needed]}

Ecclesiastical history

Main article: Roman Catholic Diocese of Vic

The bishopric is a suffragan of the archbishopric of Tarragona.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Vic University

• The Universitat de Vic (Vic University)

Demography

1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960
12,105	12,720	13,992	15,005	15,516	16,975	20,303
1970	1981	1991	2001	2010	2020
25,906	30,057	29,113	32,706	40,422	47,630

Vic has almost 28,000 registered voters.^[12]

Miscellaneous

The remains of Jaume Balmes, the Spanish philosopher of the 19th century, are interred in the cloister of the cathedral. His first centenary was celebrated at Vic by a Catholic Congress. Architect Antoni Gaudí (who lived in Vic for three weeks during May 1910) designed two basalt and wrought iron lampposts for the Plaça Major of Vic in honour of Balmes's centenary. The lampposts were inaugurated on 7 September 1910 but destroyed in 1924.^[13]

Other natives of Vic include:

• Trinitarian Saint Michael de Sanctis
• Joseph Sadoc Alemany, (1814–1888), born in Vic, later Archbishop of San Francisco
• Caterina Coromina i Agustí (1824–1893), religious woman beatified in 2006

On 22 December 2005 some inhabitants of the city won a total prize of about 500 million euros in the Spanish Christmas Lottery.^[14]

Sport

The city has a football club, UE Vic, which was founded in 1922 and plays in the Lliga Elit.