Village
Granollers is the capital and most populous city of the Vallès Oriental, in Barcelona, with 65,341 inhabitants, and preserves a medieval walled precinct and la Porxada, its most emblematic building. This Renaissance portico, which was used to store grain on market days, was built between 1586 and 1587: it measures 24 by 15.65 metres and rests on fifteen columns of the Tuscan order. The market of Granollers, already mentioned as far back as 1040, was for centuries the subject of dispute between the Church, the feudal lord of la Roca and the Crown, until in 1418 the townspeople raised 10,000 florins so that Alfonso IV would buy the town. In the Renaissance, the market's prosperity drove the construction of the Gothic church of San Esteban over the former Romanesque church of the 11th century.
Monument
14th-century tower in the municipal district of Granollers.
Monument
The Torre de les Aigües is a fortified manor house of the 15th century, much altered over time, located in the Palou district of Granollers, and declared bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). It belonged until 1701 to the Junyent family, among whose members Joan Junyent, executor of Queen Violant, stood out; the complex is organised around an enclosed courtyard with a doorway of voussoired arch and a square, three-storey tower crowned with battlements. Its present name comes from the image of the Virgin of the Snows, venerated until 1936 in the chapel on the ground floor of the tower, which the peasants called the Virgin of the Waters because they asked her for rain.
Monument
Remains of the 16th- and 17th-century walls that protected the centre of Granollers.
Monument
La Porxada, in the centre of the old quarter of Granollers, on the former Plaça del Blat — today Plaça de la Porxada —, is the city's most characteristic architectural feature. It was erected between 1586 and 1587, already in the 16th century, by the master builder Bartomeu Brufalt, commissioned by the Town Council, to shelter the agricultural market held there, which had regional importance. It has a rectangular plan, 24 by 15.65 metres, and is covered by a hipped timber structure supported by fifteen stone columns on a paved platform also of stone. It was partly destroyed during the civil war, in the so-called bombing of 31 May, and was rebuilt; it was later restored between 1985 and 1986 by the Diputación de Barcelona.
Nature
The Congost rises at the Font del Regàs, in Collsuspina, fed by waters from the western escarpments of the Plana de Vic, and takes its name from the narrow gorge it carves as it crosses the Serralada Prelitoral, between the Montseny and the Cingles de Bertí. The gorge begins at the Gorg Negre, near Centelles, and continues through Aiguafreda and Figaró until it opens onto the Vallès plain at la Garriga; it then crosses the plain, passing through Granollers, and forms the Besòs river on joining the Mogent, at Montmeló. It is 41 kilometres long with an average flow of 0.56 m³/s, of Mediterranean regime and prone to flooding: the flood of 10 October 1994 recorded 750 m³/s at la Garriga. Its banks have long been the main communication route between the Vallès and Osona.
Activity
The Festa Major de Granollers, one of the most popular in Catalonia, coincides with the feast of Sant Esteve, patron saint of the city's parish, celebrated on 26 December; to avoid the drawbacks of holding it in winter, the town council asked the Pope in 1858 for permission to move it to summer, bringing an end to the old Festa Major d'Hivern. Until 1929 it was held in the first week of September, and from 1930 it was moved to the last Thursday of August, the date on which it is still celebrated, except during the interruption of the Civil War. Since 1983 it has been known as the Festa dels Blancs i dels Blaus, after the rivalry between the Colla dels Blancs and the Colla dels Blaus, who compete to organise the best activities.
Curiosity
The fredolic (Tricholoma terreum) is an edible mushroom with white flesh that grows in pine woods and appears in clusters with the first frosts, hence its popular name; its season thus extends picking well into winter. It has a cap that is often irregular, with a prominent centre and a dry, velvety greyish cuticle, and a thin, cylindrical, fibrous stem that breaks easily. It is traditionally used in stews and soups, such as the fredolic soup of the Vallès Oriental. It should not be confused with Tricholoma pardinum, which is toxic, more robust and has a scaly cap, and is found in beech and fir woods at higher altitude.
Curiosity
Gastronomic tradition of hearty breakfasts served mid-morning in the bars and restaurants of Granollers.
Historical milestone
On 31 May 1938, at five past nine in the morning, five Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s of the Italian Aviazione Legionaria dropped some 750 kilos of bombs on the centre. 224 people died and 80 buildings were destroyed; the foreign press spoke of the Catalan Guernica.
Historical milestone
During the Third Carlist War, some 3,000 Carlists under the command of Martí Miret i Caraltó stormed Granollers on 17 January 1875. The episode shows the exposure of the comarca capital, a market town and a junction of roads, to the swings of the conflict.
Activity
Instituted in 1040, it made the town the commercial centre of the Vallès, between the old Via Augusta and the road from Barcelona to Vic. It is still held on Thursdays around the Porxada, with stalls of fruit, vegetables, cured meats and farm produce.