Besalú

Besalu is a medieval town in the province of Girona in the autonomous region of Catalonia. Besalu is the capital of the comarca of Garrotxa. The place is recognized in the category Conjunto histórico - artístico since 1966 as a cultural ( Bien de Interès Cultural ).

Location

Besalu is located northwest of Girona and about 25 kilometers southwest of Figueres on a rocky hill on the north bank of the River Fluvia the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, about 33 km ( driving distance ) at an altitude of about 150 meters above sea level. inst.

Demographics

Since the mid-20th century, the church has a substantially constant population of about 2,000 people.

Economy

The former inhabitants lived primarily as subsistence agriculture, which included the cultivation of wine and the keeping of livestock. In addition, the fortified town served as craftsmanship and mercantile center of several villages and hamlets in the area, are in the mined since the early modern lime or gypsum. Meanwhile, the place of great tourist interest.

History

The strategically important place seems to have been settled as early as the ancient times. In the 10th century a castle to her feet and developed the town was founded. In the year 1111 the place came to the County of Barcelona.

Worth seeing

• The former capital of the county of the same name is a medieval - historical -cultural ensembles - one of the best preserved in Catalonia. The center is a listed building. Well-known buildings are the church of Sant Vicenç from the 10th century, the abbey church of Sant Pere de Besalu and the church of the Hospital de Sant Julia, both from the 12th century, as well as the Romanesque residential house Casa de Cornella. From the 13th to the 14th century comes the important Gothic house of the Curia Reil.
• The mikvah in the complex of the Synagogue is the only surviving Jewish ritual on the Iberian Peninsula.
• Particularly striking is the 14th-century bridge of Besalu, the 105 meters long, towers backed by Pont Vell (' Old Bridge ') over the River Fluvia.
• Opened in 2007, the Museu de i Miniatures Micro Miniatures de Besalu shows a wide spectrum of small works of art from many cultures of the world.

Personalities

• Abbot Oliba, the spiritual father of Catalonia ', was born here in the year 971.
• Ramon Vidal de Besalu, a troubadour, was here in 1196 (?) Born.