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Formós Castle

Balaguer, Noguera, Lleida

1 Villages · 5 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 3 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

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Formós Castle

Monument · Balaguer, Noguera, Lleida

The castell Formós, also called the castle of la Suda, stands next to the river Segre in Balaguer, on hills overlooking the city, and was first an Andalusian stronghold built in 897 by Lubb ibn Muhámmad and, between 1045 and 1082, the palace of the governor Yúsuf al-Muzáffar. In 1105 count Ermengol VII of Urgell conquered Balaguer and turned the castle, to which he gave the name castell Formós, into the capital of his county; it was destroyed in 1413 during the siege of the city by the troops of Ferdinand I of Aragon, and restored later. Of the late-9th-century fortification the five towers and the rock-cut moat of the northern sector survive, and inside it stood the city's main mosque, converted after the feudal conquest into the church of Santa Maria de la Suda.

Photo: Deosringas (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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