Lleida

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.

 

Cèsar Martinell worked all over Catalonia and designed around fifty wineries. One of these is to be found to the town of Albi, in Les Garrigues, the starting point of our route through the regions of Lleida.

In Ponent, wine production was strongly linked to the manufacture of another product: olive oil. For this reason, agricultural buildings often shared the roles of winery and oil mill. In the building in Albi we can see Martinell's defining architectural features, especially on the Modernista façade. Today, the winery focuses on the production of oil, although it also retains a small part dedicated to wine.

Our next stop will at the Palau d’Angesola, where another of Martinell's building can be found; it is the winery and oil mill of the old agricultural union of the town, where you will see the great basilica plan area and the transverse building that housed the engine-room.
 
THE ‘NEW’ RAIMAT OF MANUEL RAVENTÓS
Entering Segrià we can visit the Bodegas Raimat; this town was revived thanks to Manuel Raventós, who in 1914 acquired 3,200 hectares of uncultivated land which he turned into an extensive vineyard.

Raventós hired the architect Joan Rubió i Bellver, disciple of Antoni Gaudí, for the construction of the wineries, the houses of the workers and the church. The winery was one of the first buildings to be made of reinforced concrete in Spain. Of particular note is the "winery cemetery", the room where the bottles of wine were left to age; in fact, the first bottle of Raimat wine is still preserved there today.
 
THE OIL ROUTE AND HERITAGE IN LLEIDA
But apart from wine, one can also follow the oil route, such as that of Les Garrigues, which takes you through towns such as Arbeca, La Floresta, Els Omellons and L'Espluga Calba.

Finally, you cannot miss one of the biggest Iberian fortresses in Europe, the Vilars of Arbeca. And in the city of Lleida you can see the Cathedral of St. Mary of La Seu Vella, the Church of Sant Llorenç and the Museum of Lleida.


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Can you imagine Lleida populated by only several hundred people? So was the case in the 13th century, when Pere of Coma conceived the Seu Vella upon the hill that had been occupied until then by the Muslim mosque. This will be the starting point of your journey through the Mainland Romanesque style.

The ancient cathedral of Santa Maria, the most well-known in Seu Vella, is the main monument of the capital of Segrià. Its original structure is in the Romanesque style and possesses one of the largest Gothic style cloisters in Europe. You can't leave Lleida without seeing the collections of the Museu de Lleida Diocesà i Comarcal (Diocese and County Museum of Lleida), especially the Chess of Àger!

ART...AND MUCH MORE!

In the land of Urgell, we recommend you to stop in the ancient centre of Tàrrega, with notable Romanesque civil constructions, and in Agramunt to admire the formidable entrance way of the church of Sant Maria.

Following the route northward, the town of Àger is an obligatory stop. If you are an art lover you will enjoy visiting the Church College of Sant Pere, the ancient road and the sarcophagus of the Roman era, which is located in the church of Sant Vicenç. However, it is also a worthy destination for science enthusiasts: right next store is the Parc Astronòmic Montsec (Montsec Astronomic Park).

THE GEOGRAPHIC CENTRE OF CATALONIA

To the east you will find other points of interest. In Cervera, Romanesque elements cohabitate with a multitude of styles: the Neoclassic style of the University, the Baroque style of the City Council and the Gothic style of the church of Santa Maria. With regards to magic, do you dare cross the Alley of Witches?

The final destination of this route is a land inundated with the Romanesque style. In the county of the Solsonès, the geographic centre of Catalonia, populations like Llobera and Castellar de la  Ribera maintain Romanesque castles and the cylindrical tower of Vallferosa was also built.

However, the church of Sant Esteve d'Olius and the sculpture of the Mother of God of Solsona, guarded in the cathedral, are the county's stellar artistic works. 


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Àger is a small town located in the district of Noguera. It is bordered to the north by the Montsec mountain range, to the south by the Montclús mountain range, to the east of by the river Noguera Pallaresa and to the west by the Noguera Ribagorçana. The natural heritage of the surrounding landscape is of great interest, as is its history and its cultural heritage.
 
FORTIFIED PRECINCT

Àger still has the Romanesque and the neo-Gothic fortified precinct built by Arnau Mir de Tost in the 11th century and built as part of the reconquest of the Vall d’Àger. It was built over the ruins of the former Roman castle.
 
COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF SANT PERE

The most important group of buildings consists of the collegiate Church of Sant Pere and the ruins of the castle, which was built between 1034 and 1047. The church was entrusted to a community of canons. With the support of Count Pere d'Urgell, work on the cloister started in the 14th century and was finished towards the end of the 15th century.

Items that reflect its former splendour, such as ornaments and wall paintings, are now to be found in the Diocesan Museum of Lleida, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and museums in the United States of America.
 
CHURCH OF SANT VICENÇ

The Church of Sant Vicenç is today's parish church. It was built in the 11th century, but over the course of time it has been enlarged three times. It houses a Roman sarcophagus from the third century, originally from the collegiate Church of St. Pere, la Mare de Déu de Colobor, and a Baroque-style organ.
 
OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST

If you would like to see more, you could visit the sanctuary of La Mare de Déu de Colobor, the hermitage of La Mare de Déu de Pedra or the hermitage of Santa Elena.

And if you would like to know more about Àger, you could sign up for the guided tours around the collegiate church of Sant Pere and the town's historic centre, organised by the Town Council.


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