Irun

**Irun**
	Irun
	Coat of Arms
	Vigilantiae Custos
Location
	Coordinates : 43°20′16.13″N 1°47′19.72″W / 43.3378139°N 1.7888111°W
Administration
Country	Spain
Autonomous Community	Basque Country
Province	Gipuzkoa (Basque) Guipúzcoa (Spanish)
Comarca	Bajo Bidasoa
Mayor	José Antonio Santano Clavero (PSE-EE)
Geography
Land Area	42,40 km²
Altitude	from 5 to 825 m AMSL
Population
Population	59.557 (2005)
Density	1404,65 hab./km² (2005)
General information
Native name	Irun (Basque)
Spanish name	Ciudad de Irún
Founded	Feb 28 1776
Time zone	CET (GMT +1)
- summer	CEST (GMT +2)
Postal code	20.300-20.305
Website	http://www.irun.org/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Irun (old Basque for 'fortified town', Spanish: Irún) is a town of the Bidasoa-Txingudi region in the province of Guipuscoa (Basque: Gipuzkoa) in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. Nowadays it is widely accepted by the historic researcher community that Irun is the ancient Basque Roman town of Oiasso on account of the vestiges (port, factory, etc.) disclosed lately in the historic nucleus of Irun, while the name itself may have applied to the whole surrounding area.

One of the biggest towns in Guipuscoa, its border town situation (it is located on the border between Spain and France, across the Bidasoa river from Hendaye), has made Irun into a commercial and logistic centre, with important railway infrastructure, where the SNCF 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge rails meet the 1,668 mm (5 ft 5⁵⁄₆ in) broad gauge Renfe ones. Currently Irun features a fair ground provided with modern exhibition and telecommunication facilities just at some 100 metres away from the actual borderline at the Santiago Bridge (river Bidasoa).

Irun is part of the conurbation of Txingudi bay with Hondarribia and Hendaye, the town being also involved in the Eurocité Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián.

One of its main festivals is the Alarde, a parade recreating an episode of the Peninsula War.