Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in la Roca del Vallès

What to see and do in la Roca del Vallès (Vallès Oriental, Barcelona): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Monuments

How far each place is from the centre of la Roca del Vallès

Towns near la Roca del Vallès

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What to see and do in la Roca del Vallès

La Roca del Vallès
Village
La Roca del Vallès is a municipality in the Vallès Oriental located at the crossing of the old Camino Real, today the AP-7 motorway, with the inland coastal road A-2, in the middle valley of the Mogent river. It preserves the castles of la Roca and Bell-lloc and the manor house of Vilalba; of the castle of la Roca, rebuilt in 1952, the original walls and an ice well carved into the rock remain. In its territory are the cave paintings of the Pedra de les Orenetes, discovered in 1945 and included in the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. Since the 1960s numerous factories relocated from Barcelona have been established there.
Castle of la Roca
Monument
The castle of la Roca, which gives its name to the municipality of la Roca del Vallès (Vallès Oriental), is first mentioned in surviving documentation in the year 1030, when the lords of the place were Arnau Mir and Ramon Guillem de Sarroca, together with the latter's daughter, Guillerma. It was later acquired by Ramon de Cabrera, and in 1287 Pere Marquès is recorded as its lord; his descendant Pere Arnau Marquès sold it in 1405 to Ramon de Torrelles, lord of Rubí. Its present owner is Antoni Rivière i Manén.
Castle of Bell-lloc
Monument
The castle of Bell-lloc, declared bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection), stands in the municipality of la Roca del Vallès and is documented since 1073. In 1117 Gausbert de Bell-lloc and his wife Rolanda endowed it to the monastery of Sant Pau del Camp, to which they ceded their lordship, and for generations the Bell-lloc family served as castellans and lords of the place; between 1704 and 1706 Ramon de Bell-lloc transformed the keep into a chapel dedicated to Sant Pau, and in 1705 Archduke Charles granted him the title of viscount, later count of Bell-lloc. The castle was sacked and burned in 1808, during the Peninsular War. In 1964 the Diputación de Barcelona acquired the estate and, under the direction of the architect Manuel Baldrich, built a school complex inaugurated on 29 June 1966.
Manor House of Vilalba
Monument
The Casal de Vilalba is a large manor house built in the mid-19th century in the municipality of la Roca del Vallès, on an extensive archaeological site with prehistoric, Iberian, Roman, Visigothic, 12th-century Romanesque and Gothic remains, and it is a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). It preserves an old tower with loopholes and the access gate to the medieval castle, as well as a chapel with a polychrome wooden altar; the façade, restored in 1951, displays a voussoir bearing the monogram of Christ. The place name is already documented in 932, when the bishop of Barcelona consecrated the church of Sant Genís together with this holding, which afterwards belonged to the monastery of Montserrat until, following the disentailment of 1836, Marià Borrell transformed it into the present casal.
Tower of Sant Miquel
Monument
Medieval watchtower in the municipality of la Roca del Vallès, declared bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). Remains survive of a rectangular-plan wall, with an underground chamber inside; the best-preserved stretch is 90 centimetres thick and has two or three arrow slits in two rows, the lower one now below ground level. It is built of rounded stones with a flattened outer face, bonded with lime mortar in regular horizontal courses. It is thought to have served to defend or watch over the Roman road of Parpers, which passed nearby.