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Church of Santa Maria de les Franqueses

Balaguer, Noguera, Lleida

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

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Church of Santa Maria de les Franqueses

Monument · Balaguer, Noguera, Lleida

3 km from Balaguer, the remains of the Cistercian women's monastery, with a Latin-cross plan and a single nave, formed a complex of Catalan Romanesque art with Gothic Cistercian elements; today only the church and archaeological remains survive, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1984. In 1186 countess Dolça d'Urgell received from her son Ermengol VIII lands in the orchards of Balaguer to build it, under the invocation of the Virgin and the rule of Saint Benedict; it is possible, though undocumented, that the first nuns came from Vallbona de les Monges, founded in 1173. It was a very important centre of religious and cultural training for Balaguer and the county of Urgell: the area did not come under full Christian control until the conquest of Lleida, in 1149.

Photo: PCB75 (CC BY-SA 3.0 es)

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