Lleida | Cultural Heritage. Goverment of Catalonia.

Lleida

English translation unavailable for Exposició 'L’avantguarda insubornable. Lluís Trepat Padró'.
English translation unavailable for Iniciació al taller de recerca d'or.
English translation unavailable for Visita teatralitzada a Iesso.
English translation unavailable for Exposició 'Prehistart. Art Prehistòric a la Noguera'.
English translation unavailable for Exposició 'Corpus de paper'.
English translation unavailable for Visita guiada "Molí d'Espigol: Atanagrum, l'antiga capital dels ilergets".
English translation unavailable for Cultura impulsa el patrimoni del país amb el projecte "Els ulls de la història".

A medieval walk through the castles of Sió

In the mid-11th century, the shore of the Sió was conquered from the Arabs, and soon enough castles and churches proliferated, guaranteeing a Christian presence. In this way, Sió became a border space in these lands, as well as an area of social, cultural and economic communication. The Sió Castles Route, in Segarra, stretches from Gàver (Sant Guim de Freixenet), where the Sió is born, to Balaguer, where it flows into the Segre.
 
Different castles along the route currently open their doors to visitors to reveal everything they hide inside. For example, Concabella Castle is home to the Sió Castles Interpretation Centre, which offers information about the fortifications and their history. It also has a permanent exhibition that allows you to discover the flora and fauna of the drylands of Lleida. Nearby, we find L'Aranyó Castle, which was originally a lookout and defence tower to contend with Saracen attacks. In the 19th century, it was owned by the Pedrolo-Gomars, the family of Catalan writer Manuel de Pedrolo, who was born there in 1918.
 
Our tour continues with the Montcortès Castle, which dates back to the 11th century and which, at the end of the 15th century, was renovated and replaced by the building that we see today, impressive in its grandeur and elegance. We’ll continue along the Sió Castles Route until we come to the municipality of Les Oluges, where we can behold one of the most impressive architectural jewels of the Lands of Lleida, the walled town of Montfalcó Murallat. This small medieval village sits on a hill, a strategic position for surveillance and defence at the time of the Christian reconquest. Inside, the Church of Sant Pere, the communal oven and the remains of the cistern that collected rainwater can still be found. Other essential visits along this route are Les Pallargues Castle or Florejacs Castle, built in the 10th century by Arnau Mir de Tost.
 
The Sió Castles Route is a low difficulty route that can be done by mountain bike, on foot or by car. One possible starting point is the city of Cervera, which invites you 
to walk through its old town, explore its walls, visit the spectacular Church of Santa María or immerse yourself in its museums. If you decide to do the Sió Castles Route
 on the last weekend of August, the Aquelarre festival is an absolute must.
English translation unavailable for Exposició 'Arrels i horitzons. Més d’un segle d’art'.

Art, architecture and the peace and quiet of the countryside

December is a good time to visit Agramunt, famed for the nougat, known as torró, made there. That's a good excuse for a visit that could take in the Museu del Torró i la Xocolata, but there are many more. We start at the Espai Guinovart, a contemporary art centre, founded by Josep Guinovart himself in 1994, where his works are exhibited. In October a collective exhibition, Llàgrimes (tears), was opened. It focusses on the liquid secreted by the eyes, which features widely in the work of the artist.
 
We can soak up more contemporary creation at the Lo Pardal Guillem Viladot Foundation, where the writer's visual poems and poetic objects can be admired. Viladot's work can also be found in the open air at the Riella park where a marked route leads you through his rich and fabulous artistic and poetical world. A creative universe under the spotlight this year, it being a hundred years since he was born, an event marked by the travelling exhibition Guillem Viladot i els creadors de Ponent, which will arrive in Cervera in December.
 
And you shouldn’t leave Agra­munt before visiting the church of Santa Maria, of Romanesque origins but with a Gothic bell tower, or the Pilar d’Almenara, an iconic defence tower built during the 11th and 12th centuries to warn against incursions by the Moors. If you climb to the top you will be rewarded with a panoramic view of the plain of Urgell.
 
From Agramunt we go to Pene­lles where more contemporary art can be enjoyed. Over the course of three days during the Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival in this town, artists paint the walls and facades and the resulting works can be visited throughout the year.
 
From Penelles we go to Tar­ròs, in Tornabous. This is where Lluís Companys was born and there is an interpretation centre that provides information about him and his political work as president of the Generalitat. The exhibition has interactive displays that make this politician more accessible to visitors through material usually found in archives.
 
The excursion ends in the Iberian settlement El Molí d’Espígol, which some think could be the mythical settlement of Atanagrum, the former capital of the Ilergetes tribe, destroyed by Scipio during the Second Punic War, according to the chronicles of Polybius and Titus Livy. A surprising history.


An excursion proposed in collaboration with the magazine Descobrir.