Village
Cardona is a ducal town in the Bages, in the province of Barcelona, known for its castle, its salt mountain and its walled old town, with 4553 inhabitants. The castle, built in 886 by Wilfred the Hairy, includes the Golden Hall and the 11th-century, 15-metre-high Miñona Tower, as well as the Romanesque church of Saint Vincent of Cardona; today it operates as a Parador Nacional. In the 15th century the Dukes of Cardona were the most important family in the Crown of Aragon after the royal house, known as "the kings without a crown" for their domains in Catalonia, Aragon and Valencia. After a siege that destroyed a large part of the walls, Cardona was in 1714 the last Catalan stronghold to surrender to the troops of Philip V.
Monument
The Pont del Diable, or pont Trencat, is an unfinished bridge over the river Cardener, at the entrance to the town of Cardona, and forms part of the Way of St James. Declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (the highest level of Catalan heritage protection) in 1962, it is formed of two arches of different width and height resting on the rocks of the riverbed, which makes it describe an obtuse angle; its construction, in ashlar laid in horizontal courses, is dated to around the 15th century. The first documented record is from 1424, when a council ordered alms to be collected for the work, given the danger that crossing the Cardener posed for pilgrims on their way to Montserrat, Zaragoza or Santiago de Compostela. According to popular tradition, the bridge may have had as many as five or six arches.
Monument
The canonica of Sant Vicenç de Cardona is the Romanesque church located within the precinct of Cardona castle, in the Bages, and is considered one of the masterpieces of European Romanesque architecture. Its construction, commissioned by Viscount Bermon I on the advice of Abbot Oliba, was carried out between 1029 and 1040, the year in which it was consecrated by the bishop of Urgell. Around 1090 it adopted the Rule of St Augustine as an Augustinian canonry. The secularisation of 1592 and the conversion of the castle into a barracks in 1794 marked its decline, until in 1931 it was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (a former Spanish heritage protection category) and restored in 1952; since 1976 the complex has housed a state-run parador hotel.
Monument
A medieval fortress considered the most important in Catalonia, situated on a hill overlooking the salt valley and that of the Cardener, on a bend of the latter at 585 metres of altitude. Built in the year 886 by Wilfred the Hairy, it combines Romanesque and Gothic styles and includes the Golden Hall; its most valuable element is the Minyona tower, from the 11th century, 15 metres high and more than 10 in diameter, next to the Romanesque church of Sant Vicenç de Cardona. During the 15th century, the dukes of Cardona were the most powerful family in the Crown of Aragon after the royal house itself. On 18 September 1714, after a siege that destroyed much of its walls, it was one of the last Catalan strongholds to surrender to the Bourbon troops during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Monument
The walls of Cardona formed the defensive perimeter built around the town during the 13th century, partly to mark it off from its agricultural surroundings, since until then the proximity of Cardona castle had been enough to give shelter to the townspeople. The original precinct was reinforced with several towers at dominant points, such as the Bestorra and the Fortesa; from the second half of the 13th century, the town's population growth spilled beyond this first belt and forced the enclosure of five new suburbs, a project that continued throughout the 14th century and was not completed until 1420. The whole came to measure some 1500 metres in length, between one and two metres wide and between three and six metres high. The town was entered through four main gates, in addition to four lesser ones.
Monument
A cylindrical fort, circular in plan and narrowing in diameter with height, built in 1837-1838 by order of the Baron of Meer, a military officer of Flemish origin, to protect the Cardona saltworks from the Carlist attacks of Tristany during the Seven Years' War, while the town's castle remained in the hands of the Cristinos. At mid-height it has a few loopholes and rough masonry which nonetheless conveys a sense of sturdiness. It is protected as a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional.
Monument
The old town of Cardona, in the Bages, protected as a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection, BCIN 1898-CH), grew up under the protection of the castle, occupied in 798 by Louis the Pious to organise a stronghold there, which was lost in the revolt of Aissó and was not resettled until Wilfred the Hairy occupied it again. Count Borrell II granted an important founding charter in 986, and the town grew strongly around the first church of Sant Miquel. In 1398 the new church of Sant Miquel i Santa Eulàlia was consecrated, while the Hospital de Sant Jaume and the castle itself, belonging to the counts of Cardona — a title granted in 1375 and raised to a duchy in 1491 — were also being enlarged. The old town still preserves streets and buildings of Gothic character from that period.
Activity
The fair, part of the Fira Medieval de Cardona and held on the first weekend of June, commemorates the town's salt-mining past with a street dinner, various festive events and a medieval market with craftspeople, centred on the heritage of the Muntanya de Sal that gave Cardona its commercial fame.
Activity
The Festa Major of Cardona (Bages, Barcelona), a ducal town, is held on the second weekend of September. Among its most popular events are the correbou, in which young people run a bull in an improvised square in front of the town hall, and the cargolera, a wicker basket from which a person faces the animal's charges. It is rounded off with ball de bastons, concerts, musical performances and a final fireworks display.
Activity
A 40 km route through mining heritage and the old paths used to transport salt, running through Cardona, Navàs, Sant Mateu de Bages, Fonollosa, Súria, Callús, Sant Joan de Vilatorrada and Manresa.
Curiosity
The Muntanya de Sal of Cardona is a salt diapir that grows every year, situated at the foot of the Garrigues range, on the right bank of the river Cardener and south of the urban centre of Cardona. It occupies an elongated elliptical depression 1,800 metres long by 600 metres wide, covering about 100 hectares, included in the Pla d'Espais d'Interès Natural for its geological values. It was formerly known as el Salí, today Vall Salina, and three salt minerals mainly emerge there: halite or rock salt, sylvite and carnallite. Its fragile composition makes it liable to be altered by any human intervention, and the erosion processes linked to the dissolution of the salts have produced deep incisions that form a landscape unit of great value, tied to the history of the town.
Nature
Archaeological site excavated at the football ground of Cardona, with remains linked to the historic salt working.
Historical milestone
The founding charter of Cardona was granted on 23 April 986 by the count of Barcelona Borrell II to the inhabitants of the district of Cardona castle, to attract settlers to this frontier. Written in Latin, it confirmed and extended the privileges of the earlier counts Guifré I and Miró I, placed the inhabitants under the patronage of viscount Ermemir and recognised their right of armed resistance, as well as protecting the public market, allowing payment in legal currency and granting the community its own resources such as a quarter of the toll and the Thursday salt. Because of its solemnity and scope, greater than those of other contemporary privileges, it is considered one of the most important documents of medieval Catalonia; it is kept in the town's archive and was restored in 1995.
Historical milestone
Ever since Count Borrell II granted Cardona its founding charter in 986, the viscounts and later dukes of Cardona built their fortune on the salt monopoly and came to dominate around six percent of Catalan territory, which earned them the nickname of 'kings without a crown' within the Crown of Aragón.
Historical milestone
After the fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714, the fortress of Cardona held out a week longer and capitulated on 18 September. It was the last redoubt to surrender and with it the War of the Succession ended in Catalonia.
Food and drink
The salt diapir of Cardona was worked from Iberian and Roman times until the closure of the mines in 1990. From that deposit comes a very pure rock salt that for centuries preserved meats and fish and that today is packaged for the table.