Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Esplugues de Llobregat

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

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

Towns near Esplugues de Llobregat

Spain › Catalonia › Barcelona › Baix Llobregat › Esplugues de Llobregat

What to see and do in Esplugues de Llobregat

Esplugues de Llobregat
Village
Esplugues de Llobregat is a city in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, in the Baix Llobregat, whose name comes from the Latin spelunca ('cave'). It preserves the Picalquers tower and the old monastery of Sant Pere Màrtir, on the mountain of the same name in the Collserola range, which at 399 metres serves as a natural lookout for the municipality. The old town retains its historic layout, with streets such as Montserrat and farmhouses such as Can Cortada, where the Baron of Maldà lived. Having gone from an industrial city to one based on services, it is today also home to international schools such as the German School of Barcelona and the American School of Barcelona.
Tower of Picalquers
Monument
The Torre de Picalquers, also called the Tower of the Lions, was built in the 19th century on the ruins of the castle of Picalquers, demolished by order of Philip V. The Picalquers family is documented in the district of Esplugues since the 12th century; in 1325 Guillemina, widow of Ramon de Picalquers, sold the property with all its holdings to Pere Tarré, in whose family it remained until the mid-17th century. The castle suffered damage during the Bourbon siege of Barcelona in 1706, repaired shortly afterwards. Today converted into a restaurant, its lower floors preserve medieval and even Roman remains: a semi-buried cellar, a central tower section with an iron-railed balcony and, beside the staircase of the rear garden, two stone lions. It is protected as a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection).
Sant Pere Màrtir
Monument
Sant Pere Màrtir is the original name of the former Dominican convent for women now located in the municipality of Esplugues de Llobregat. Founded in Barcelona in 1351 with the bequest of the Infanta Maria d'Aragó, with nuns who came from the monastery of Prouille, in Languedoc, it changed premises several times within the city and in 1423 moved to Santa Eulàlia del Camp, where it took the name Santa Maria de Montsió. Damaged during the Civil War, in 1947 the community settled in the farmhouse of Can Casanovas, in Esplugues, taking with it the Gothic cloister, begun in 1391, which today is the main surviving piece of the complex.
The ceramics of Pujol i Bausis
Historical milestone
The Pujol i Bausis ceramics factory, known as la Rajoleta, was founded in Esplugues de Llobregat in the mid-19th century, in 1858, devoted to bricks, and specialised in tiles and decorative elements under Jaume Pujol i Baucis, who ran it from 1874 until his death in 1892 and redirected the business towards Modernist ceramics. His son Pau Pujol i Vila continued the company, renamed Hijo de Jaume Pujol i Bausis, in a period of strong growth. Its clients included Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner, Puig i Cadafalch, Enric Sagnier and the Güell family; its tiles cover the Casa Lleó Morera, the Casa Amatller and the Palau Macaya in Barcelona. Since 2002 part of the premises has housed the La Rajoleta Ceramics Museum.