View source for Vic, Spain

{{Short description|City in Catalonia}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Vic
| settlement_type         = [[Municipalities of Catalonia|Municipality]]
| image_skyline           = 370 Plaça Major de Vic, costat est, amb l'Ajuntament a l'extrem dret.jpg
| imagesize               = 
| image_alt               = 
| image_caption           = Plaça Major de Vic
| image_flag              = Flag of Vic.svg
| flag_size               = 
| flag_alt                = 
| image_shield            = Coat of Arms of Vic.svg
| shield_size             = 
| shield_alt              = 
| nickname                = 
| motto                   = 
| image_map          = {{Maplink|frame=yes|plain=y|frame-width=285|frame-height=180|frame-align=center|frame-coordinates={{Coord|39.5|N|3.7|W}}|zoom=4|type=point|title=Vic|marker=city|type2=shape|stroke-width2=2|stroke-color2=#808080|text=Interactive map of Vic.}}
|map_caption = Location of Vic
| pushpin_map = Spain Catalonia  vegueries#Spain
| coordinates = {{coord|41|55|49|N|2|15|17|E|region:ES-CT_type:city(10908)|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes   = 
| subdivision_type1       = [[Country]]
| subdivision_name1       = Spain
| subdivision_type2       = [[Autonomous communities of Spain|Autonomous community]]
| subdivision_name2       = [[Catalonia]]
| subdivision_type3       = [[Provinces of Spain|Province]]
| subdivision_name3       = [[Barcelona]]
| subdivision_type4       = [[Comarques of Catalonia|Comarca]]
| subdivision_name4       = [[Osona (comarca)|Osona]]
| established_title       = 
| established_date        = 
| leader_party            =
| leader_title            = [[Mayor]]
| leader_name             = Albert Castells ([[Together for Catalonia (2020)|Junts]])
| area_footnotes          = <ref name=idescat>{{cite web|url=http://www.idescat.cat/emex/?lang=en&id=082981|title=El municipi en xifres: Vic|publisher=[[Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya|Statistical Institute of Catalonia]]|access-date=2015-11-23}}</ref>
| area_total_km2          = 30.6
| elevation_footnotes     = 
| elevation_m             = 484
| population_as_of        = 2024
| population_footnotes    = <ref name=INE>{{cite web|url=https://ine.es/jaxiT3/Datos.htm?t=2861|title=Cifras oficiales de población de los municipios españoles en aplicación de la Ley de Bases del Régimen Local (Art. 17)|publisher=[[Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)|National Statistical Institute]]|access-date=2025-05-09}}</ref>
| population_total        = {{population WD|Vic, Spain}}
| population_density_km2  = auto
| population_demonym      = Vigatà, vigatana
| population_note         = 
| postal_code_type        = 
| postal_code             = 08500
| area_code_type          = 
| area_code               =
| blank_name              = [[Köppen climate classification|Climate]]
| blank_info              = [[Oceanic climate|Cfb]] 
| website                 = {{URL|vic.cat}}
| module                  =
| footnotes               =
}}
[[Image:Templo romano de Vic - 001.jpg|thumb|230px|Roman temple]]

'''Vic''' ({{IPA|ca|bik}}; {{langx|es|Vic}}) is the capital of the ''[[Comarques of Catalonia|comarca]]'' of [[Osona]], in the [[province of Barcelona]], [[Catalonia]], Spain. Vic is {{cvt|69|km|mi}} from [[Barcelona]] and {{cvt|60|km|mi}} from [[Girona]].

==Geography==
{{climate chart|Vic
|−1.1|7.7 |42
|−0.5|10.5|39
|4.5|14.1|50
|7.6|16.8|61
|10.2|20.9|93
|13.4|26.1|79
|15.7|29.3|51
|15.6|28.9|93
|13.7|23.9|82
|7.5|18.1|78
|3.9|11.9|54
|0.8|8.2|46
|float=right
|clear=none
|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vic.cat/AuditoriaAmbiental/medinatural222.htm|title=vic.cat}}</ref>
}}
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&nbsp;°C, an absolute record of -24&nbsp;°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 [[Quercus pubescens|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''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Història de Vic |url=https://www.victurisme.cat/ca/guia-practica/historia/historia-de-vic |website=VicTurisme}}</ref> From Latin ''vicus'' (neighborhood or urban population), it became ''Vich'' in [[Old Catalan]].

In 1538, [[Lorenzo de Padilla]] writes Vic '''Bique'''<ref name=lemir>{{cite journal|access-date=20 April 2022|author1=Saracino, de Pablo|date=2020|issn=1579-735X|language=es|number=24|page=916|periodical=Lemir|publisher=Universidad de Valencia|quote=Bique (Vique, Vich): I 48r.|title=Primera parte de la Historia y Antigüedades de España|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2519852995}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> and it appears as '''Vique''' in the ''Memorial'' of the Bishop of Vic, Antonio Pascual (ca. 1694)<ref>{{cite journal|at=Universidad Complutense de Madrid|author1=Pascual, Antonio|date=1694|periodical=Vich (Diócesis)|publisher=Hathi Trust|title=Memorial del Obispo de Vique, en justificacion de los procedimientos que hizo con los canonigos adjuntos, en la competencia de jurisdicion con el iuez Apostolico del Breve en Cataluña|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5322467117&view=1up&seq=1}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>  In 1715, Spain's [[Nueva Planta decrees]] for Catalonia gave the city the Spanish name of Vique;<ref>{{cite web |title=Relación de las festivas demonstraciones, con que la ciudad de Vique en los dias 4, 5, y 6 de noviembre 1759, celebró la proclamación del Rey nuestro Señor D. Carlos III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNc9QbgXMA0C |date=1759}}</ref> 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]]).<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |last1=Burgueño |first1=Jesús |title=Interference of Spanish and French in the name of the Catalan municipalities |journal=Estudios Geográficos |date=2017 |page=636 |url=http://estudiosgeograficos.revistas.csic.es/index.php/estudiosgeograficos/article/view/704/760 |publisher=[[Spanish National Research Council]]}}</ref> 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''.<ref name="auto"/>

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]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=Normes ortogràfiques |date=1913 |publisher=Institut d'Estudis Catalans |url=https://publicacions.iec.cat/repository/pdf/00000190%5C00000050.pdf}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ine.es/intercensal/intercensal.do?search=3&codigoProvincia=08&codigoMunicipio=298&btnBuscarCod=Consultar+selecci%EF%BF%BDn|title=INEbase. Alterations to the municipalities|website=www.ine.es}}</ref>

== History ==
The town has been described as "a hotbed of [[Catalan independence|secessionist]] sentiment".<ref name="veconomist" >{{cite news|title=An unconstitutional vote on independence turns nasty |url=https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21729855-spanish-governments-handling-catalans-damages-spains-image-unconstitutional-vote|work=[[The Economist]]|date=1 October 2017}}</ref>

A [[car bomb]]ing by the Basque separatist group [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] in 1991 [[Vic bombing|killed 10 people in Vic]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}

==Ecclesiastical history==
{{main|Roman Catholic Diocese of Vic}}
The bishopric is a [[suffragan]] of the [[archbishopric of Tarragona]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}

== Education ==

[[File:UniversitatVic.jpg|thumb|[[Universitat de Vic|Vic University]]]]

*The [[Universitat de Vic]] (Vic University)

== Demography ==
{| class="wikitable" 
|-
! width="7%" | 1900
! width="7%" | 1910
! width="7%" | 1920
! width="7%" | 1930
! width="7%" | 1940
! width="7%" | 1950
! width="7%" | 1960
|-
| align="center" | 12,105
| align="center" | 12,720
| align="center" | 13,992
| align="center" | 15,005
| align="center" | 15,516
| align="center" | 16,975
| align="center" | 20,303
|-
! width="7%" | 1970
! width="7%" | 1981
! width="7%" | 1991
! width="7%" | 2001
! width="7%" | 2010
! width="7%" | 2020
|-
| align="center" | 25,906
| align="center" | 30,057
| align="center" | 29,113
| align="center" | 32,706
| align="center" | 40,422
| align="center" | 47,630
|-
|}

Vic has almost 28,000 registered voters.<ref>Vic City Council https://eleccions.vic.cat/escrutini</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite book |first=Isidre |last=Puig i Boada |title=El temple de la Sagrada Família |language=ca |isbn=978-84-282-1557-2 |publisher=Thor, D.L. |location=Barcelona |year=1986}}</ref>

Other natives of Vic include:
*[[Trinitarian Order|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&nbsp;million [[euro]]s in the [[Spanish Christmas Lottery]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060116074911/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/12/22/spain.lottery.ap/index.html Spanish town wins big in lottery], CNN, December 22, 2005. Archived on the [[Internet Archive]] January 16, 2006.</ref>

==Sport==
{{Unsourced section|date=April 2025}}
The city has a [[association football|football]] club, [[UE Vic]], which was founded in 1922 and plays in the [[Lliga Elit]].

==Sources and references==
<references/>
* Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rius Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. {{ISBN|84-87135-01-3}} (Spanish). {{ISBN|84-87135-02-1}} (Catalan).
*{{Catholic|wstitle=Diocese of Vic}}
*[http://libro.uca.edu/vic/dv1.htm Paul Freedman, "The Diocese of Vic"] has broad implications for the medieval history of Catalonia in general
*[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dvics.html Diocese of Vic general information] of the Catholic-Hierarchy website

== External links ==
{{commons|Vic}}
{{EB1911 Poster|Vich}}
* {{Official website|http://www.vic.cat/}} {{in lang|ca}}
* [http://aplicacions.municat.gencat.cat/index.php?page=consulta&mostraEns=0829810007 Government data pages] {{in lang|ca}}

{{Geographic location
|Centre = Vic
|N  = [[Gurb]]
|NE = [[Folgueroles]]
|E  = [[Calldetenes]]
|SE = [[Santa Eugènia de Berga]]
|S  = [[Malla, Barcelona|Malla]]
|SW = [[Muntanyola]]
|W  = [[Santa Eulàlia de Riuprimer]]
|NW = [[Sant Bartomeu del Grau]]
}}

{{Osona}}
{{Municipalities in Barcelona}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Municipalities in Osona]]
[[Category:Vic, Spain| ]]