Logbook · 6 places

Tower of Ginebret

Santa Maria de Merlès, Berguedà, Barcelona

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 1 Nature

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Tower of Ginebret

Monument · Santa Maria de Merlès, Berguedà, Barcelona

Image of Santa Maria de Merlès, not of the place itself.

A watchtower set on the eastern slope of the valley of the riera de Merlès, in the municipality of Santa Maria de Merlès, on a small rise, and declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional. Only the north-western corner and part of the south-western side of its core survive, measuring 4.80 by about 11 metres, with walls 90 centimetres thick, with well-squared ashlar that allows it to be dated to the second half of the 12th century. It has been suggested that this small territory gave its name to the future barons of Pinós and Mataplana, identifying the tower with the castle already mentioned in 1063, when it belonged to Miró Riculf, founder of the lineage; recent studies place that castle in the county of Berga, so the tower may rather have been a fortified house protecting the road and the market of the area.

Photo: jordi domènech (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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