Village
Mollerussa is the capital of the Pla d'Urgell comarca, in the province of Lleida, with more than 15,000 inhabitants in only 7.08 km², one of the highest population densities in Catalonia. The town grew from the 19th century onward around the Urgell canal, which carries water from the river Segre to the surrounding fields; the setting up of the irrigators' union made it the administrative seat of the region's farmers and, already in the 20th century, it boosted both agriculture and industry. Earlier it had been a coaching inn on the royal road between Barcelona and Lleida. It preserves the chapel of San Isidoro, built in the early modern period and now included in the Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Catalonia, and it has held the San José Agricultural Fair since 1872.
Nature
The Canal d'Urgell is an irrigation infrastructure that carries water from the river Segre to the fields of the comarques of l'Urgell, the Pla d'Urgell, la Noguera, el Segrià and les Garrigues, with an irrigated surface area of about 70,000 hectares. It starts on the Segre downstream of Ponts and runs some 144 km to Montoliu de Lleida. It was built between 1847 and 1861 and inaugurated in 1862, completing a project that dated back to the first studies ordered by Charles I in 1506 and by Philip II in 1554, 1574 and 1577, and to later initiatives such as that of Pere Ripoll de Anglesola in the 17th century or that of the merchant Jaume de Duran and the Marqués de la Ensenada in the 18th, with projects by the engineer Bernardo Lana. It transformed the Urgell plain into farmland and fed the Estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana.
Activity
The Festa Major de Mollerussa is celebrated in mid-May (May 14-17 in 2026); the municipality also celebrates the Festes de Sant Isidori in honor of its patron saint.
Monument
A singular space in Mollerussa (Pla d'Urgell) dedicated to paper clothing and ephemeral garments, one of the most peculiar museums in the comarca. It arose linked to the Concurs Nacional de Vestits de Paper, held annually since the mid-20th century next to the Teatre de l'Amistat; the town council took over its management in 1998 and the current building, at number 90-92 on Carrer Ferrer i Busquets, was inaugurated in 2009. Its permanent collection brings together more than 80 garments and grows every year with the most outstanding creations from each edition of the competition, besides hosting temporary exhibitions by local artists.
Monument
Church of Sant Jaume, whose late-Gothic 17th-century building was damaged in the Civil War; the present church, with a clear Italian influence, with the bell tower at the foot of the church following Italian practice and an octagonal-plan baptistery, was built between 1949 and 1952.
Activity
The Fira de Sant Josep de Mollerussa was born in 1872 as a livestock and agricultural market, driven by agricultural growth following the works on the Canal de Urgell and by the arrival of the railway; in 1885 its holding was fixed around 19 March, the feast of Saint Joseph, to attract more outside traders. It withstood the foot-and-mouth crisis of the 1920s and continued to be held during the Civil War, although with less attendance in 1938 because of the Segre front. In 1950 agricultural machinery was incorporated with the arrival of the tractor, and in 1960, after the mechanization of farming, the livestock section was dropped to focus entirely on machinery, making it one of the largest fairs of its kind in Catalonia; in 1985 the current exhibition pavilion was inaugurated.
Activity
Mollerussa's Festa Major d'Hivern corresponds to the Festes de Sant Isidori, registered by the Generalitat de Catalunya as the municipality's 'festa major petita', with an opening address, a mass in honour of the patron saint and a tribute to the elderly.
Activity
The Fira de Sant Josep de Mollerussa (Pla d'Urgell, Lleida) has been held since 1885 and is an evolution of the town's old livestock fairs. It is considered one of the most important fairs in Catalonia in its specialty, agricultural machinery. In 1960, with the mechanisation of farming, it entered a new stage: the presence of agricultural machinery increased at the expense of livestock, until becoming the current focus of the fair.
Activity
The Fira de Mollerussa is held in the capital of the Pla d'Urgell, whose name first appears documented in 1079 as Mulieruciam; the railway arrived in 1861 and in 1988 Law 5/1988 made it the head town of the new comarca.
Historical milestone
Law 5/1988, of 28 March, created the Pla d'Urgell with sixteen municipalities that until then belonged to La Noguera, l'Urgell, Les Garrigues and El Segrià. Mollerussa was designated capital of the new demarcation.
Historical milestone
The name Mulieruciam appears for the first time in 1079, in a document by which the counts of Barcelona ceded the place to Berenguer Gombau d'Anglesola so that he might conquer and resettle it. It was then frontier and dryland country.
Historical milestone
The train reached Mollerussa in 1861 and, together with the seat of the irrigation union of the Canal d'Urgell, turned a small town into the commercial centre of the plain. In 1975 it obtained the title of city and in 1988 the comarca capital status.