Portal:Spain
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Spain (Spanish: España, IPA: [es'paɲa]) is a country in southern Europe, with a native language of Spanish. The country consists of Peninsular Spain which is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, two archipelagos, one in each sea, and two autonomous cities in North Africa. The mainland area of Spain is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the southern and eastern areas, the Cantabric Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Spain is organised as a parliamentary democracy and is a constitutional monarchy. Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986 and is a developed country, with the ninth largest economy in the world and fifth largest in the EU. Spain is the largest of three sovereign states that make up the Iberian Peninsula – the others being Portugal and Andorra; with an area of 504,030 km², it is the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France). Spain flourished under the Roman empire Hispania, thus becoming one of the Empire's most important regions at the time. During the times of the Middle Ages, Spain was under Germanic rule, only later to become under ruling of the Islamic caliphate. Spain went to war against the French Republic in 1793 after they had killed their king, Louis XVI, and, although defeated in the end, Spain made peace with France in 1795.  The Biblioteca Nacional de España ('The National Library of Spain') is a major public library, the largest in Spain. It is located in Madrid near the Paseo de Recoletos. Founded in 1711, the Library was originally The Royal Public Library of King Philip V. It housed some 60,000 books by 1752, by which time it had become a legal deposit library. The Library continued to grow, and had significant royal patronage throughout the 18th century. By 1836 it had been renamed as The National Library of Spain ('Biblioteca Nacional de España'), and by 1850 it housed some 200,000 items. In 1896 the Library moved to the current location in center Madrid. The Madrid premises are shared with the National Archaeological Museum. Its current catalog is called the Bibliografía Española. It indexes some 6,000,000 books and journals, 25,000 manuscripts, and 240,000 rare books. In addition to books, maps and manuscripts, it holds collections of visual material such as drawings, posters, and photographs.  The Temple of Debod is an ancient Egyptian temple which has been rebuilt in Madrid, Spain. The temple was built in southern Egypt, very close to the first cataract of the Nile and to the great religious center dedicated to the goddess Isis, in Philae.
WikiProject Basque • WikiProject Catalan-speaking Countries • WikiProject Galicia • Spanish Translation of the Week What are WikiProjects?  Lucrezia Bori (born Valencia, 24 December 1887 – died New York, 14 May 1960) was a celebrated Spanish operatic singer, a lyric soprano. Her real name was Lucrecia Borja y González de Riancho and her family were reputed to be descended from the Borgias. Bori studied in Milan with Vidal and made her debut at the Teatro Adriano in Rome as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen in 1908. in 1911 she sang Octavian in the Italian premiere of Der Rosenkavalier at La Scala. Her career somewhat started at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, where she became a favorite among regulars, began during the Met's first visit to Paris, in 1910 (June 9; Manon Lescaut); it would last until 1936, although from 1915 to 1921 she stopped singing due to nodes on her vocal cords. She appeared a total of 654 times. She was famous for her portrayals of Manon in Massenet's opera, Mimì in La bohème, Fiora in L' amore dei trè rè, Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande and Violetta in La traviata. Her farewell gala on 29 March 1936 was one of the great events at the Metropolitan. Bori sang scenes from Manon and La traviata, with contributions from Flagstad, Melchior, Rethberg, Pinza, Ponselle, Martinelli, Tibbett and Richard Crooks. Ever the Grande Dame, after her retirement from singing she was elected to the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera Association and became chairman of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. 
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