Logbook · 2 places

What to see and do in Montesquiu

What to see and do in Montesquiu (Osona, Barcelona): 2 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments

How far each place is from the centre of Montesquiu

Castle of Montesquiu 150 m

Towns near Montesquiu

Spain › Catalonia › Barcelona › Osona › Montesquiu

What to see and do in Montesquiu

Montesquiu
Village
Montesquiu is a municipality in northern Osona, in the province of Barcelona, beside the Ter river, in the Bisaura sub-comarca and bordering the Ripollès, with 1131 inhabitants. It split off from Sant Quirze de Besora in 1934. Montesquiu Castle, documented since the late thirteenth century, was acquired in the late nineteenth century by the Juncadella family, who gave it to the Barcelona Provincial Council, today the owner of more than ninety percent of the municipal territory, which has turned the castle and its park into a museum. The settlement arose in the mid-seventeenth century beside the royal road from Barcelona to Puigcerdà, and the first industries arrived in the late nineteenth century. It was the scene of battles in 1714, during the War of the Spanish Succession, and in 1836, during the First Carlist War.
Castle of Montesquiu
Monument
The castle of Montesquiu, catalogued as a 17th-century building and documented since 1258, stands in the natural park that bears its name, managed by the Diputació de Barcelona between the comarcas of Osona and El Ripollès. Its origin lies in a small rectangular structure, still preserved within the present-day building, probably raised between the 10th and 11th centuries, together with the castles of Besora and Saderra, for the defence of the territory. In the late 15th century it lost its military character and became a manorial residence, a period from which the monumental staircase and central courtyard date; in the 18th century a chapel dedicated to Santa Bárbara was added. In the late 19th century it passed to the Juncadella family, whose last owner ceded it to the Diputació de Barcelona.