Aberystwyth (English: Mouth of the Ystwyth) is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located near the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol. Since the late 19th century, Aberystwyth has also been a major Welsh educational centre, with the establishment of a university college there in 1872. At the 2001 census, the town’s population was 16,000. During nine months of the year, there is an influx of students – to a total number of 10,400 as of September 2012 – but there is no reliable measure of the number of those students whose family residence is outside Aberystwyth.
Although the town is relatively modern, it contains a number of historic buildings, including the remains of the castle and the Old College of Aberystwyth University nearby. The Old College was originally built and opened in 1865 as a hotel but, due to the bankruptcy of the owner, the shell of the building was sold to the university in 1867. The new university campus overlooks Aberystwyth from Penglais Hill to the east of the town centre. The terminus for the standard-gauge railway is also very impressive, having been built in 1924 in the typical style of the period. Generally, the architecture is a mix of Gothic, Classical Revival and Victorian.
The Cambrian Railways line from Machynlleth reached Aberystwyth in 1864, closely followed by rail links to Carmarthen, which resulted in the construction of the town’s impressive station. The Cambrian line opened on Good Friday 1869, the same day that the new Eugenius Birch designed 292 metres (958 ft) Royal Pier opened, attracting 7,000 visitors.
The railway’s arrival gave rise to something of a Victorian tourist boom and the town was once even billed as the “Biarritz of Wales”. During this time, a number of hotels and fine townhouses were built including the Queens Hotel. One of the largest of these hotels, “The Castle Hotel”, was never completed as a hotel but, following bankruptcy, was sold cheaply to the Welsh National University Committee, a group of people dedicated to the creation of a Welsh University. The University College of Wales (later to become Aberystwyth University) was founded in 1872 in this building.
[caption id="attachment_203533" align="aligncenter" width="390"] Johannes Brahms in 1889 - New York Public Library - C. Brasch[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Johannes Brahms was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna. His reputation and status as a composer are such that he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nin...
