Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in el Pont de Bar

What to see and do in el Pont de Bar (Alt Urgell, Lleida): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of el Pont de Bar

Towns near el Pont de Bar

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What to see in la Seu d'Urgell 12 km · 13 places
What to see in les Valls de Valira 12 km · 7 places
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Spain › Catalonia › Lleida › Alt Urgell › el Pont de Bar

What to see and do in el Pont de Bar

El Pont de Bar
Village
El Pont de Bar is a municipality in the Alt Urgell, in the province of Lérida, made up of Ardaix, Els Arenys, Aristot, Bar, Castellnou de Carcolze and Toloriu, with 162 inhabitants, set within the gorge of the River Segre between the Pyrenean sierras to the north and the foothills of the sierra del Cadí to the south. It was formed in 1970 through the merger of Toloriu and Aristot, and took its current name in 1984. The floods of November 1982 destroyed the old centre, together with the bridge that gives the village its name, built in the time of the bishop of Urgell Ermengol, between 1010 and 1035; the new village was built half a kilometre downstream and on higher ground, with works begun in 1985 and inaugurated in July 1988. It retains a wine museum and the Romanesque church of Aristot, dedicated to Saint Andrew.
Castle of Aristot
Monument
The remains of Aristot Castle stand on a promontory overlooking the village of the same name, in the municipality of El Pont de Bar. With the south and east parts lost, the plan seems to have been rectangular, about 18 by 50 metres; to the west a wall of about 25 metres survives, on a base carved into the rock, and inside remain fragments of rooms about 5 by 4 metres. The place name Arestothe already appears in 839, and it belonged to the counts of Cerdanya. On 29 June 1209 the viscount of Castellbò obtained the commitment to raze its walls; Guillem d'Urtx had it rebuilt in 1229. In 1301 his descendants sold half the fortress to the king of Majorca, and on 20 October 1708 its farmers resisted a French attack of 400 horsemen and 800 foot soldiers. It is Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection).
Castellnou de Carcolze
Monument
An old fortified settlement in the municipality of El Pont de Bar, in the Alt Urgell, with the remains of a castle of the counts of Cerdanya documented since the year 986. The Gothic-style parish church of Sant Girvès sits on a slope and has two floors, the upper one devoted to worship; it has a single, wide nave, covered by four bays of barrel vaulting separated by transverse arches, with a flat chancel flanked by two large round-arched niches and a wooden choir at the foot. The western doorway, with a pointed arch and voussoirs decorated with balls, gives access to the church from a flight of steps, and a passage beneath the bell tower leads to the ruins of the castle's walled precinct. It is declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection).
Castle of Bar
Monument
Bar Castle crowns a small hill next to the settlement of Bar, in the sub-district of Baridà, a transitional land between l'Urgellet and Cerdanya, at 1,181 metres above sea level and 1.5 km from Toloriu; the village, with 39 registered inhabitants, is presided over by the church of Sant Esteve, much altered from the original Romanesque temple. First mentioned in a sale document of the year 895, together with the castles of Aristot and Toloriu it defended the entrance to Cerdanya. Of its precinct, adapted to the rock and probably elliptical in shape, the base of the central tower and a stretch of wall about 6 metres long next to the cliff survive. Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection).
Castle of Toloriu
Monument
A castle situated in El Pont de Bar, at the edge of the village of Toloriu, documented since 1025 under the form 'Toloriz' -contemporary variants also call it 'Tolorivo' or 'Tolarit'-, when, together with the castles of Bar and Aristot, it protected the entrance to the district of the Alt Urgell. From the 14th century it belonged to the lineage of Siscart de Llordat and his descendants. A corner tower and wall remains of the old fortification survive, in use until the War of the Spanish Succession and finally destroyed by the French in 1794; the rebuilt circular tower is popularly known as 'la Torre del moro'. It is declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection).
El Pont de Bar Main Festival
Activity
The fiesta mayor of el Pont de Bar is celebrated in a new town: the floods of November 1982 destroyed the old settlement, wedged into the gorge of the Segre, and the town was rebuilt half a kilometer downstream, with work beginning in 1985 and its inauguration in July 1988.
Destruction of the old village by the 1982 flood
Historical milestone
The floods of November 1982 destroyed the old centre, wedged into the gorge of the Segre. The works on the new town, half a kilometre downstream and on higher ground, began in June 1985 and the inauguration came in July 1988.