Cultural landscape

In Roman times, with the arrival of spring, the houses were decorated with flowers and herbs. The festivals of the Enramades or bowers continue this tradition, covering the streets with carpets of flowers to celebrate Corpus Christi. One of the most prominent festivals of the Enramades is in Arbúcies, which already appears in documentation from the 16th century and was declared a traditional Festival of National Interest in 1999. It is celebrated during the eight days of the Corpus Christi festival.

In its beginnings, branches were placed in front of the houses, so that the whole street would be covered with garlands made of leaves and flowers. Hence the name "enramades" or bowers. Today the branches and garlands have been replaced by paper and plastic flags. However, what has lasted up to the present day are the carpets of flowers that were used to decorate the streets along which the solemn Corpus Christi procession passed. The women and children would gather flowers from the woods during the vigil and would scatter them on Corpus Christi day itself. During the post-war period (1947), they started to make drawings and designs with the flower petals.

Until the last century, the Festival of the Enramades in Arbúcies had a strong religious flavour. The procession, led by the passage of the Blessed Sacrament, was the main element of the traditional celebration. Since 1977, it has been replaced by a parade with giants, pipers, floats and other festive elements. The main event of the secular celebration is the dance that each district performs in the most representative style.

The Ecomuseum of Valls d'Àneu is a living museum. It is not contained within a single building but it is made up of several monumental, ethnographic and natural elements, spread out among the municipalities of Àneu which, together, explain how the inhabitants of these Pyrenean valleys have lived from the end of the 19th century. It’s an innovative project that was born in 1994 and which carries out research, conservation, dissemination and recovers the past of the territory in which it is based.

The central point is the Casa Gassia, a house typical of the Valls d'Àneu in the 18th century. It maintains its original structure and the current exhibition space shows what domestic life was like during the first half of the 20th century. Starting from here, the Ecomuseum is spread over 10 further heritage centres.

There are churches - Sant Joan d’Isil, Sant Julià d’Unarre, Sant Pere de Sorpe, Sant Pere del Burgal, Santa Maria d’Àneu and the Son monumental complex - which explain what the popular religion, beliefs and rituals were like. And also defensive buildings, distant in time from each other, such as the medieval castle of Valencia d'Àneu and the post-war bunkers of Guingueta d’Àneu. At the same time, the industrial facilities, which include the hydraulic sawmill at Alos and the cheese dairy of Roseta de Gavàs, are a testament to the economic activities of the area.

In addition, through the objects and items situated in their place of origin, the Ecomuseum shows the transformations that this territory has undergone in recent decades, and allows the natural and monumental elements to be related to the social, cultural and ethnographic traditions.

In this small valley in the Pyrenees there are a group of exceptional churches and chapels which stand as both the cradle and the ultimate expression of Catalan Romanesque art. Declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2000, the Vall de Boí group comprise Sant Climent and Santa Maria in Taüll, Sant Joan in Boí, Santa Eulàlia in Erill la Vall, Sant Feliu in Barruera, Sant Quirc and Church of the Nativity in Durro, Santa Maria in Cardet and the Church of the Assumption in Coll. All the churches can be visited except for Sant Quirc in Durro, and the Church of the Assumption in Coll.

In the Lombard Romanesque style, the churches of the Vall de Boí are functional, simple temples with one or three naves, built with small granite ashlars. The roofs are wooden-beamed or barrel-vaulted. And these churches are the artistic reflection of an austere society, tied to the natural environment and strongly hierarchical.

The interiors of the churches were decorated with mural paintings and carvings. The hieratic figures (with images of the Virgin and the Saints and the dominant figure of the Pantocrator) and the play of colours characterise symbolic paintings of great creativity which represent one of the highest achievements of Romanesque art at an international level.

Since the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, this Romanesque group fascinated the intellectuals of the Catalan Renaixença. Josep Puig i Cadafalch, among others, and institutions such as the Institute of Catalan Studies contributed to the appreciation and preservation of the art of the Pyrenees.

Today, a good many of the paintings, carvings and furniture are kept in different museums, particularly in the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC). Even so, many of the churches have important fragments of mural paintings and original Romanesque sculptures, as well as reproductions of those which are preserved in museums. In the case of Sant Climent de Taüll, a modern mapping recreates the original frescoes of the apse and offers an immersive experience of what it was like at the time of its creation. At the same time, a visit to this group of churches can be complemented with a visit to the Romanesque Centre of the Vall de Boí.

Located on the northern side of the Pallàrs Sobirà, is Gerri de la Sal, a small medieval village that still retains its enclosure and which is noted for its industrial and architectural heritage: the alfolí, or salt storehouse, and the Monastery of Santa Maria.

The exploitation of the source of the salt, was, until recently, the main economic driving force for this town, which is reflected in its name. As a witness to this industrial past, the Casa de la sal or the Reial Alfolí de Gerri, the Royal warehouse, where the salt was extracted, treated and stored from the Middle Ages, remain. Considered to have the largest floor plan of any civil building in Pallars, it now houses the Museum of Gerri de la Sal.

The cultural interest of the complex is completed with the remains of an example of the Catalan Romanesque in its purest form: the Monastery of Santa Maria, which lies just outside the village.

Dedicated to the Benedictine order in 1149, it soon became an important evangelical centre for the Bishop of Urgell and also one of the richest. But at the end of the 12th century the Counts withdrew support for the monastery, and took its land and properties. The economic problems and the disputes led to the depopulation of its domains and it was finally deconsecrated in 1835. Of the monastery, now only the Church with the atrium or entrance porch remains. Inside you can see up to 30 decorated capitals.

"A great mountain of pure salt that grows as it is extracted." This is how, according to Aulus Gel·li Cató described, in the second century, one of the most important potassium salt mines in the world, located in Cardona. It is a depression of land shaped like an elongated ellipse with an area of ​​100 hectares and containing unique natural and geological features. It has been exploited as an open mine since the Neolithic era, and from 1900 to 1990 through extraction, following the discovery of potassium salts by the engineer Emili Viader i Solé.

"La Muntanya de Sal de Cardona" (the Salt Mountain of Cardona) is now a cultural and tourist centre dedicated to promoting the importance of the geological site and its utility for man through the centuries.

The museum area is an open space that explains the geology, mineralogy and botany of the "Vall Salina de Cardona" (Salt Valley of Cardona), included since 1992 in the Plan for Areas of Natural Interest in Catalonia.

You can also learn about the history of the exploitation of salt throughout the centuries. Entering the old mining pit, you can see a unique piece of industrial archaeology: salt extraction machinery designed and built during the 1920s.