Village
Vilaller is a mountain municipality in the Alta Ribagorça, in the province of Lleida, situated in the Barrabés valley on the banks of the Noguera Ribagorçana, with 496 inhabitants. The settlement is divided into two parts on either side of the river: the old village, on the mountainside, and a new district developed through tourism, next to the road linking it with the Vall d'Aran. It preserves a Gothic bridge over the river and the parish church of San Clemente, in Baroque style with an octagonal bell tower, while in the associated settlement of Senet de Barrabés stands the Romanesque church of Santa Cecilia. Vilaller lives chiefly from cattle and sheep farming, and on the eve of San Juan holds its Pyrenean falles descent, declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Activity
The Festa Major of Vilaller is held from 13 to 18 August, with the traditional Ball del Tatero and the changing of the stewards on the 15th; the town's patron is Sant Climent (23 November), and in January the Festa de Sant Sebastià is also held, one of the oldest in the town.
Monument
The medieval bridge of Vilaller crosses the Noguera Ribagorçana as it passes through the village. It is a Gothic-style bridge dating from the 17th century, of which only a part survives today, after being largely destroyed by the flood of 1963.
Nature
The Vall de Barravés is a valley in the central Pyrenees, on the southern slope, which forms the headwaters of the river Noguera Ribagorçana and opens, in the direction of the Vielha pass, amid high-mountain forests and pastures. Most of it lies within the municipality of Vilaller, although some stretches fall within the Aragonese municipality of Montanuy and that of Vielha e Mijaran, around the Vielha tunnel. It is surrounded by mountains over 2,600 metres high, such as the Puerto de Vielha peak to the north, and several summits over three thousand metres to the west and east, among them the Besiberri and the Comaloforno. The valley takes its name from - or gives its name to - the old monastery of Sant Andreu de Barravés, of considerable importance in the late early Middle Ages, although its exact location is not known with certainty.
Monument
The historic town hall of Vilaller.
Activity
The autumn fair of Vilaller is the Fira de Tots Sants i del Cep, held on the first weekend of November; already in the 19th century an annual three-day fair around Tots Sants was documented, alternating with that of neighbouring Pont de Suert.
Nature
Gorge carved out by the Noguera Ribagorçana between Vilaller and the Ribagorça, at the entrance to the Alta Ribagorça.
Nature
Southern access to the Vielha tunnel from Vilaller (Alta Ribagorça, Lleida), which connects the Alta Ribagorça with the Val d'Aran. The southern portal sits at 1,593 meters above sea level, in the Molières hollow. The original tunnel, 5,230 meters long and 12 meters wide, began to be bored around 1926 and took some 22 years to complete: it was holed through in 1941, though it did not open to traffic until 1948. Before it opened, the only way to cross the mountain was the Port de Vielha, at 2,444 meters, impassable in winter because of the snow. A second tunnel, opened on 4 December 2007, added two uphill lanes heading south and one downhill lane heading north.
Curiosity
Hydroelectric power stations built by ENHER from the mid-20th century onwards (Senet, Vilaller, Bono and Llesp, among others), the engine of the comarca's modern economic development.
Monument
The Vilaller hydroelectric power station, in the basin of the Noguera Ribagorçana and part of ENHER's system of hydroelectric plants in the Alta Ribagorça, was built in 1952. It draws water through a 6.3-kilometre channel with a flow of 7 cubic metres per second and generates 4,200 kilowatts of power. It was part of the network of hydroelectric works built in the area between 1940 and 1960, which also included the plants of Senet, Bono and Pont de Suert, harnessing the valley's differences in elevation to produce electricity.
Nature
Viewpoint over the gorge carved out by the Noguera Ribagorçana between Vilaller and the Aragonese Ribagorza.
Nature
High-mountain setting of the municipality of Vilaller, at the head of the Noguera Ribagorçana. The municipality reaches its highest points at Besiberri Sud (3,023 m) and Besiberri Nord (3,009 m), in the heart of the vall de Besiberri, described as one of the most beautiful and distinctive valleys of the Catalan Pyrenees, with alpine lakes and glacial cirques. The Noguera Ribagorçana forms a natural boundary along much of the municipality, where the Senet reservoir is also found, shared between two municipalities. The territory borders the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, while the town of Vilaller itself lies at an altitude of 981 metres.
Historical milestone
With the works begun around 1926 and stopped by the Civil War, the boring was completed in 1941 with the labour of prisoners of war and it was not opened to traffic until 1948. At 5,240 metres it was the longest road tunnel in the world until 1964.
Historical milestone
The centre is documented from 1118 and its castle from 1310, at a point controlling the passage of the Noguera Ribagorçana towards the Val d'Aran. The town lived on livestock and woodland until the arrival of the hydroelectric stations.
Monument
Baroque building of the eighteenth century that presides over the old centre, raised over an earlier church. Its volume and its bell tower dominate the settlement stepped above the Noguera Ribagorçana, on the way to the Vielha tunnel and the Val d'Aran.
Food and drink
Traditional Pyrenean dish made with lamb's blood and liver sautéed and accompanied by a sweet-and-sour sauce with honey. It is prepared at pig-slaughter time and is one of the preparations that best preserves the valley's repertoire of using everything up.
Food and drink
Potatoes are called trumfes in the Lleida Pyrenees and here they are stewed with the juice of fried bacon, a leftovers dish typical of the pig slaughter. It accompanies meats of the comarca and appears on the menus of the mountain restaurants.
Food and drink
The sheep's and goat's cheeses of the Pyrenees include the serrat, pressed and cured, and the tupí, made by crushing leftover cheese with spirits and leaving it to ferment in an earthenware vessel. They are taken with bread and are of very intense flavour.