MURCIA, a city of Spain, capital of the province of that name, is situated on the River Segura, in 38. N. Lat., and 1. 11. W. Long., nearly in the centre of the valley called the Huerta de Murcia. The Segura divides the city into unequal parts. The suburb of San Benito, on the right bank, is connected with the principal division of the city by a very fine stone bridge of two arches. It enjoys a delicious climate,—a kind of perpetual spring; an advantage which it owes mainly to its sheltered position. It is surrounded by a brick wall, erected during the civil war, and has three principal gates on the N., S., and E., besides various smaller entrances. The streets are mostly broad, straight, and well flagged; that of La Plateria is the principal street in the city, and a great resort of loungers, being covered with awnings of canvas in hot weather. The principal plaza is that of San Domingo, in which is a promenade planted with orange and other trees, and much frequented. The houses are mostly of two storeys, the lower being inhabited in summer. The finest building in the city is the cathedral (1388–1467): the fine Corinthian columns of its façade are the work of D. Jaime Brot, in 1787. The interior is of semi-Gothic architecture, but is not equal to the exterior. The bell-tower, begun 1521, and finished 1766, is of three stages, unequal in point of merit, and contains a peal of twenty bells. The episcopal palace of the see of Cartagena, erected 1748–52, is one of the finest edifices of its kind in Spain, and has a commanding situation. Near the palace are the colleges of San Fulgencio and San Isidoro, which have the appearance of a single edifice. The other remarkable buildings are—the hospital of San Juan de Dios; the silk and saltpetre manufactories, on the N.; and the Alhordiga, a building for the deposit of grain. There are eleven parish churches, two hospitals, with a founding hospital and a house of refuge. The seminary of San Fulgencio, founded in 1592, has since 1823 been in a state of decay. The institute of secondary instruction was founded first in 1837, the rents of various suppressed religious houses being appropriated; it has at present two professorships of Latin, two of mathematics, and chairs of philosophy, natural history, chemistry, and general literature. A normal school was founded in 1844 for the improvement of the education of the province, and there are numerous
private schools in the city. In the suburb of San Benito, on the right bank of the Segura, is a Plaza de Toros rarely used.
The surrounding country, as far as the huerta extends, is very beautiful, and richly covered with the olive and mulberry. The olive and the vine are cultivated on the slopes of the surrounding sierras, but without much success. Silk is the most important product, amounting on an average to L.150,000 yearly; wheat, barley, &c., are largely grown, and all kinds of fruit. But few cattle are reared. There are manufactures of silk and silk cloth in the town; also of woollen cloths, of soap, earthenware, and some other articles, but to no great extent.
The province of Murcia was the first possession of the Carthaginians in Spain, and the city was, during the Moorish occupation, one of the seven capital cities of the seven military divisions of Spain, A.D. 787. It was taken by D. Alfonso, son of St. Ferdinand, in 1240. Murcia was plundered by General Sebastiani in 1810, and in 1812 suffered from the attack of a detachment of Soult's army. On the 21st of March 1829 an earthquake caused a good deal of damage in the city, the cathedral being much injured. Pop. (1844) 55,053.