Santa Tecla, El Salvador
Santa Tecla | |
|---|---|
From top, left to right: Iglesia El Carmen, Palacio Municipal de Santa Tecla, Paseo El Carmen. | |
| Nickname(s): Tecla, Nueva San Salvador | |
| Motto: ¡Inseparable de Ti! | |
| Coordinates: 13°40′23″N 89°14′26″W / 13.67306°N 89.24056°W | |
| Country | El Salvador |
| Department | La Libertad Department |
| Metro | San Salvador Metropolitan Area |
| Town | 8 August 1854 as Nueva San Salvador |
| City | 1 January 1856 |
| Department Capital | 21 January 1865 |
| Renamed as Santa Tecla | 1 January 2004 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Democratic, Mayor-Council Municipality |
| • Mayor | Henry Flores (Nuevas Ideas) |
| Area | |
| 112.2 km2 (43.32 sq mi) | |
| • Urban | 9.0 km2 (5.5 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 931 m (3,053.6 ft) |
| Population (2020) | |
| 139,908 | |
| • Density | 1,902/km2 (36,200/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 124,938 |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central Standard Time) |
| SV-LI | CP 1501 |
| Area code | + 503 |
| HDI (2007) | 0.821 – very high |
| Website | http://www.santatecladigital.gob.sv// |
Santa Tecla (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsanta ˈtekla]) is a city and a municipality in the La Libertad department of El Salvador. It is the capital of the department of La Libertad.
The city was named after Saint Thecla who was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul of Tarsus in the 1st century AD. She is not mentioned in the New Testament, but the earliest record of her comes from the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, probably composed in the early 2nd century.
Santa Tecla is situated at the southern foot of the San Salvador Volcano, and it is a part of the San Salvador metropolitan area. The municipality of Antiguo Cuscatlán sits on its eastern border.