Village
Igualada is the capital of the comarca of l'Anoia, in the province of Barcelona, with 42,085 inhabitants (INE 2025), settled in the valley of the river Noya. Its centre is already documented in 1003, around a church dedicated to Santa María linked to the monastery of Sant Cugat, between the feudal domains of Ódena and the lordships of Montbui and Claramunt. The earliest known walls probably date from the 12th century and were extended in the 14th to include the Raval de Capdevila; a third expansion in the 15th century gave them 36 towers and 10 gates, and they remained standing until the 18th century. At the end of that century the districts of San Agustín and la Soledad were built outside the walled enclosure, and new tanneries were constructed, the origin of its textile and leather-goods tradition.
Monument
The walls of Igualada were built between 1438 and 1463 and came to have thirty-six towers and seven gates, with pointed-arch portals on the outside and voussoir arches on the inside. Today only two survive: the Portal d'en Vives, or de les Rovires, and the Portal de la Font Major or de Gràcia, both on the Passeig de les Cabres, with niches of religious images in terracotta and majolica. The complex was declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection) on 8 November 1988.
Monument
The parish basilica of Igualada, also called l'Església Gran, considered the most important historical and artistic complex in the capital of Anoia and declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). Igualada's first settlers established themselves around the year 1000 around this site, located at the crossroads between Barcelona and Aragon; although the church's origins go back to the early 11th century, most of the current building dates from the 17th century. 200 m², with six bays and an apse, with a raised choir at the foot and side chapels opening through round arches of classical influence.
Monument
An old 11th-century Romanesque church in the municipality of Igualada (Anoia, Barcelona), today surrounded by the city's urban growth, on Carrer de l'Ermita. It has a rectangular plan with a single nave and a semicircular apse. It was founded around 1059 by Guillem Bernat and his wife Ermengarda; it was first served by monks from Montserrat and, from the 15th century, by beneficiaries of Igualada's main church, until the Piarist fathers took charge of worship between 1741 and 1835, the year of the disentailment. It was declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection) on 15 April 1975. Between 1993 and 1995 the Diputación de Barcelona carried out a restoration, directed by the architect Antoni González Moreno-Navarro, focused on structural recovery and traditional roofing techniques.
Monument
The Igualadina Cotonera, also known as Vapor Vell or Cal Godó, is an old cotton mill in Igualada built between 1841 and 1842, which operated until 1967 and is the oldest surviving example of early Catalan industrialisation, even predating the Vapor Vell de Sants of 1848. It is a building of Mancunian type, with a ground floor, three storeys and an attic, with a structure combining wooden and cast-iron pillars, whose small windows and wooden columns betray its age. Declared bien de interés local (a municipal-level heritage protection designation) in 1997 and Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection) in 2006, it was acquired by Igualada Town Council in 2003 and is undergoing rehabilitation to house the future Museum of the Press of Catalonia.
Monument
A cemetery in Igualada built between 1985 and 1994 by the architects Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós, in the les Comes industrial estate, and considered one of the most notable in Catalonia; in 1992 it received the FAD Architecture Prize and since 2021 it has been protected as Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). The blocks of niches adapt to the terrain through the stacking of prefabricated boxes, partly clad in stone and with landscaped roofs that favour their integration into the landscape. The complex, which also includes mausoleums, a chapel and a crematorium, moves away from the language of traditional cemeteries and was conceived as a space for rest and memory, but also for walking and dialogue with nature.
Activity
The Festa Major of Igualada (Anoia, Barcelona) is celebrated in August in honour of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, patron saint of the city, whose feast day falls on 24 August. The programme includes children's and youth theatre, visits to notable buildings in the city, the presentation of the Salero and the Saleret, correfocs, sardanas and human-tower (castellers) displays by the Moixiganguers, as well as the dance of the Eagle of Igualada. Several giant troupes also take part, among them the Gegants d'Igualada (1943), the gegants of Sant Ignasi/Xauxa, those of the Barri del Poble Sec (1950) and the Eagle of Igualada itself (Àliga d'Igualada, 2005).
Historical milestone
In 1381 the villa obtained the privilege of carrer de Barcelona, which put it on an equal footing with the capital in rights and franchises and placed it under its protection against the feudal lords. The statute boosted the market and urban growth.
Historical milestone
From the sixteenth century the pools and drying sheds of the tanners were lined up beside the Rec channel, making use of the water diverted from the Anoia. The quarter made Igualada the leading peninsular centre of leather, an activity that still continues.
Historical milestone
Carlos and Bartolomé Godó, industrialists of Igualada origin enriched by textiles, founded in Barcelona in 1881 the newspaper La Vanguardia. The family maintained manufacturing interests in the villa, linked to the cotton industry of the Anoia basin.
Historical milestone
Born in Igualada in 1941, viola da gamba player and conductor, he recovered for the general public the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque repertoire with the ensembles Hespèrion XX and Le Concert des Nations. His soundtrack for Tous les matins du monde made him popular.
Food and drink
Show that brings together in the centre of Igualada restaurateurs, artisans and wineries of the comarca. Visitors buy tickets and try tapas and wines in a street format that serves as a showcase for the local produce of the Anoia.