VitoriA is spelled with an A

It is no coincidence that the statues that preside over the most iconic plaza in Vitoria showcase women. The VictoriA AladA (shown above) crowns the Monument to the Battle of Vitoria, and the matron of the city, the Vírgen BlancA (the Virgin Mother), watches from her niche in the portico of the Church of San Miguel. The women of Vitoria have played an essential role in the development of the city.  

Among them are the educator MaríA de Maeztu Whitney, one of the most accomplished women of her time. This Vitoria native dedicated her whole life to teaching women and was convinced that freedom was linked to education. Or ErnestinA de Champourcin, a poet that embodied immense creativity, sensitivity and social commitment, and one of the members of the Generation of ‘27. It is widely known that she received great praise from Federico García Lorca in his famous poem “¡quién fuera Ernestina!”. In 1989, she received the Basque Country Prize for Literature. The following year, the Poetry Contest that bears her name was created in Vitoria.

VictoriA de AndA y Esquível was another important woman from Álava and a member of the Court of England. She was married to Fernán López Escoriaza, a man from Vitoria who became the physician to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragón, and was also the physician to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This gasteiztarra (Vitoria native) was also the physician that presided over the birth of Mary Tudor. Mrs. Anda y Esquível was also responsible for hosting the reception for the ambassadors to the King of England who came to Vitoria to meet with Emperor Charles V, who at that time was staying in the neighboring Montehermoso. The couple, committed to humanist values, built the Escoriaza-Esquível Palace in the Casco Viejo (Old Quarter) (lower section of the image).