Village
Oristà is the largest municipality by area in the Lluçanès comarca, in the province of Barcelona, located in the valley of the riera Gavarresa and made up of the settlements of Oristà and the Torre de Oristà. Neolithic, Iberian and Roman remains have been found in its territory, including the ruins of Puig Ciutat, a Roman camp of about five hectares recently opened to the public. The castle of Oristà, documented since the year 908, disappeared around the 12th century, and the church of San Andrés, with a Romanesque crypt, is already mentioned in 923. It also preserves Romanesque churches scattered across its territory, such as Sant Salvador de Serradellops. The bandit Perot Rocaguinarda was born here in the 16th century, and in 1714 the town was burned by the troops of Philip V. It has 555 inhabitants (INE 2025).
Monument
Church situated on an elevated point overlooking the Plana de Vic, within the municipal district of Oristà (Lluçanès). Originally, in the 11th century, it was a small single-nave building covered by a barrel vault with a semicircular apse; in the 12th century an arcosolium was opened and the wall supporting the two-bay bell-gable was raised, and in the 13th the nave was extended westward. The portal, on the south wall, is a voussoired doorway of the 16th century, and in 1787 the interior was decorated with Baroque plasterwork. It preserves a very worn sandstone holy-water font shaped like a column. Documented since 1065, today it retains only a parish function as the cemetery of the Mas Sant Salvador family, who care for the church.
Monument
The hermitage of Sant Nazari de la Garriga is a Romanesque church situated in a hard-to-reach spot called la Garriga, within the old district of the castle of Oristà, in the Lluçanès, protected as a cultural asset of local interest. It consists of a single nave with a semicircular apse, covered by a pointed vault, and the interior lies below the level of the outside ground, so three steps must be descended to enter; on the west front open the voussoired door, a cross-shaped window and a slender two-bay bell-gable. In front of the chapel remains of the hermit's cell and of an old olive-oil mill are preserved, with two millstones still visible. Documented since 1284, it kept its worship until 1936, and today Mass is held there only once a year.
Monument
The church of Sant Andreu d'Oristà (Lluçanès, Barcelona) is an 18th-century temple that combines Romanesque, Baroque and neoclassical elements: a single nave with two partially overlapping levels and a small square-based belfry with eight openings. It is documented since the year 923, in the sale of a vineyard, and as a parish church since 942; work on the present church is first mentioned in 1775. It preserves a crypt, whose function is disputed (perhaps a gallery), with three naves separated by two rows of columns joined by round arches forming groin vaults; from the Romanesque period only one original column remains. It was rediscovered and restored in 1969 with support from the Diputació de Barcelona, and it is listed in the Inventory of Catalan Cultural Heritage (IPAC 23185).
Activity
Craft fair around the plaça Major and the plaça de l'Església in Oristà.
Curiosity
Puig Ciutat is an archaeological site located on a plateau of 5.1 hectares near the hamlet of La Torre de Oristà, surrounded by a meander of the Gavarresa stream. In its last phase it was a Roman settlement of the 1st century BC that probably served as a military garrison during the civil war between Caesar and the followers of Pompey (49-45 BC), and its occupation ended violently, with traces of fire and thrown weapons. It has been intensively studied since 2010, documenting a stretch of wall with attached dwelling structures and, on the central plateau, complex buildings with a rich material culture. It also has two earlier phases, Iberian and Late Bronze Age, still little known. In 2016 it was opened as an archaeological park open to visitors.
Activity
Livestock and transhumance fair of Santa Creu de Jutglar, one of the oldest and most deeply rooted in the Lluçanès.
Activity
Oristà celebrates its winter festival on the weekend nearest Sant Antoni, 17 January, known as the Festa Major del Porquet.
Monument
Historic town hall of Oristà.
Curiosity
The traditional country life that gives the comarca of Lluçanès its identity, with farmhouses scattered across the plateau.
Historical milestone
Perot Rocaguinarda was born in 1582 in a farmstead of the district of Oristà and led the band of the nyerros during the war of banditry. Cervantes portrayed him in Don Quixote as Roque Guinart; pardoned in 1611, he ended up serving in the tercios of Naples.
Historical milestone
At the beginning of February 1714 the Bourbon troops commanded by José Carrillo de Albornoz entered the Lluçanès in reprisal for the uprising against the royal taxes: Oristà was sacked and burned along with other settlements of the plateau.
Food and drink
A local chickpea variety traditionally grown in the Oristà area, in the Llusanès, with smaller grains than the usual varieties, wrinkled and pale in colour, with a very thin skin and a quick cooking time. It nearly disappeared and was reduced to consumption on Oristà's own farmsteads, until in recent years an effort has been made to revive it by selling it outside the municipality, with support from the Lluçanès Consortium's Rural Development Service and the approval of the town council, which sees it as a way of promoting Oristà. It is grown as a dry crop on the plateau and sold at fairs and local produce stalls in the comarca.