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What to see and do in les Franqueses del Vallès

What to see and do in les Franqueses 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 les Franqueses del Vallès

Towns near les Franqueses del Vallès

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What to see and do in les Franqueses del Vallès

Les Franqueses del Vallès
Village
Les Franqueses del Vallès is a municipality formed by five villages, with its town hall in Corró d'Avall, in the centre of the Vallès Oriental, with 20,881 inhabitants. Its territory corresponds in part to the old demarcation cited in a privilege granted by the Count of Barcelona Berenguer Ramón I in 1025, which recognised the free possession of property for its settlers. It preserves several medieval towers and the church of Santa Maria de Llerona, documented since the year 990, next to the also Romanesque church of Santa Coloma, mentioned since 1077. The settlements of Corró d'Amunt and Corró de Vall, already mentioned in the 10th century, each have their own Romanesque church, that of Sant Mamet and that of Santa Eulàlia, the latter rebuilt in 1954 after being burned down during the Civil War.
Church of Santa Maria de Llerona
Monument
A church from the 12th to the 18th centuries in the municipality of les Franqueses del Vallès, of pre-Romanesque origin, dated to the year 990, although it did not become a parish until 1575, when it replaced the nearby hermitage of Sant Iscle. Listed as Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection), it preserves a Latin-cross floor plan with three square apses recalling its pre-Romanesque origin, and a 12th-century doorway with an archivolt over columns with decorated capitals; one depicts a mask among acanthus leaves and the other, the Virgin on a cushion between two angels. It was built over a Roman villa, from which part of the baptismal font comes; during the second Remença war it was fortified, and on 28 March 1485 its leader, Pere Joan Sala, was captured in Llerona and executed in Barcelona.
Tower of Seva
Monument
The Torre de Seva is a fortified farmhouse built in the 14th century by Bertran de Seva, located in Marata, within the municipality of les Franqueses del Vallès (Vallès Oriental). It is a rectangular-plan building with a square tower to the south, with Gothic and Renaissance windows; the main window, Renaissance in style, is dated 1561, and all its walls end in battlements. In front of the tower a chapel was built, dedicated first to Saint Abdon and Saint Senen, patrons of market gardeners, documented in 1606, when Isabel Magarola was authorised to rebuild it; it stood next to the tower of Magarola, formerly called Fontanet.
Tower of Marata
Monument
The Torre de Marata is a farmhouse with the remains of a medieval fortress, located in the municipality of les Franqueses del Vallès and declared bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). It consists of a square-plan tower three storeys high, with a gabled roof, to which a rectangular wing was added; it retains defensive arrow slits on every floor and the old round-arched doorway, now bricked up, next to which a rectangular door and two balcony windows were opened. No documentation on the house survives, and its vernacular building technique does not allow its origins to be established precisely, although it could be the oldest building in Marata.
Town Hall of les Franqueses
Monument
Modernista town hall of les Franqueses del Vallès, on the Ribes road, in the Corró d'Avall district. A 1912 work by the architect Albert Juan i Torner, declared bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection) in 2019. The building, parallelogram in plan with three independent wings and a basilica-like structure with single-storey annexed schools, has a main façade 124.30 metres long by 35.50 deep. Notable features include its bell tower, covered in coloured glazed tiles with geometric decoration and topped by an iron spire, as well as the helical brick columns of the interior courtyard. Its construction gave priority to materials and building methods typical of the comarca, designed to make future repairs easier.