Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Balsareny

What to see and do in Balsareny (Bages, Barcelona): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments

How far each place is from the centre of Balsareny

Fort of la Torreta 350 m
Castle of Balsareny 650 m

Towns near Balsareny

What to see in Navàs 3.8 km · 4 places
What to see in Sallent 4.7 km · 4 places
What to see in Castellnou de Bages 4.8 km · 3 places
What to see in Gaià 7.1 km · 2 places
What to see in Avinyó 7.8 km · 3 places
What to see in Santpedor 9.7 km · 3 places
What to see in Artés 9.9 km · 5 places
What to see in Súria 11 km · 5 places

Spain › Catalonia › Barcelona › Bages › Balsareny

What to see and do in Balsareny

Balsareny
Village
Balsareny is a town in the Bages comarca, in the province of Barcelona, which was called Valsareny until the mid-19th century, with a population of 3380. Its oldest remains date back 4000 years and the place appears documented as Balceringia in the year 951, when its first churches were also built. The religious figure Pedro Casaldáliga was born in the municipality in 1928. The town is dominated, in its highest part, by Balsareny Castle, of pentagonal plan and documented since the year 900, today the property of the Marquises of Alòs; a Carlist fort, popularly known as "el castell dels moros", is also preserved. The Fiesta de los Arrieros (Muleteers' Festival), declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico (an official Spanish designation for festivals of special tourist value) in 1970, and the feast of Saint Mark are its most notable celebrations.
Castle of Balsareny
Monument
A Gothic castle overlooking the town of Balsareny, in the Bages, documented since the year 951 in Carolingian charters. The present building, pentagonal in plan with an interior courtyard, dates from the 14th century, although it preserves Romanesque remains in the lower parts. In 1063 the count of Barcelona Berenguer Ramon I enfeoffed it to Bernat and Miró Riculf. Within the walled and battlemented precinct are preserved the cellar, the cistern, the stables and the dungeon, as well as the church of Santa María, a Romanesque church from the 12th century rebuilt in later periods. It has been declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional since 1949.
Fort of Sant Maurici
Monument
A small fort built in 1838 by sappers during the First Carlist War, with a near-square plan and three circular towers at the corners; the count of España occupied it to bombard Balsareny, and by the end of the 19th century it was already in ruins.
Fort of la Torreta
Monument
The Torreta fort, of military character and Carlist period, stands on the slope of the hill of Balsareny castle. It is rectangular in plan, with two circular towers at opposite corners and twenty-one loopholes; the only access was a wooden door that was bolted from within, and despite its ruined state remains of its timberwork still survive. During the First Carlist War, Balsareny was fought over several times between Carlists and Liberals: the castle was turned into a fort and in 1838 two fortifications were built, this one and another on the serrat del Maurici, with which the road to Berga was kept under control. At Christmas that year, Carlist troops commanded by Carles d'Espanya besieged the town, freed three days later by General Carbó. Declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional.