Village
Tàrrega is the capital of the comarca of Urgell, in the province of Lleida, with 19,057 inhabitants (INE 2025), the second most populous municipality in the province, whose economy rests on trade and the food and metalworking industries. The origin of its stable settlement goes back to Muslim rule, when the castle and walls were built, in the 10th century; in the mid-11th century Count Ramon Berenguer I conquered the castle, and its strategic position favoured the growth of the town in the Middle Ages. Most of its notable buildings were erected in the 17th century. Capital of Urgell, internationally known for FiraTàrrega, the street arts festival, it incorporates the former villages of Claravalls, Figuerosa and Talladell.
Monument
The hermitage of Sant Eloi stands on the hill of the same name, a magnificent viewpoint over the town of Tàrrega and the plain surrounding it. It is a 13th-century Romanesque church with a single nave, a five-sided polygonal apse and a wooden roof, covered by two slopes with pointed diaphragm arches. It was built in 1248 at the commission of the silversmith Simó Canet and substantially renovated between 1728 and 1731. During the Third Carlist War, in 1872, it was put to military use and fortified with a wall and towers that served as a prison; it was restored for worship in 1876 and again in 1964, when the bell tower was rebuilt. It has been declared a bien cultural de interés nacional (the highest heritage protection status in Catalonia) since 1977.
Monument
Church in Tàrrega (Lleida) protected as a bien cultural de interés nacional (the highest heritage protection status in Catalonia), in the category of historic monument. It was built between 1672 and 1742, after the collapse of an earlier church in 1674, to the design of the architect Josep de la Concepció, with a single nave and interconnected side chapels, covered by a barrel vault with lunettes and a hemispherical dome over the crossing; later added to this main body were the Chapel of Sorrows, from 1704, and the Chapel of the Rosary, from 1724, with its polychrome carving of the Virgin. The façade, in three tiers, was not completed until the 20th century, with an 18th-century portal attributed to Pere Costa. The interior is decorated almost entirely with fresco mural paintings made between 1958 and 2022 by Jaume Minguell i Miret and, later, by his son Josep Minguell i Cardenyes.
Monument
Castle of possible Arab origin, in Tàrrega (Urgell, Lleida), documented since 1056, when Count Ramon Berenguer I of Barcelona gave it as a perpetual dowry to his wife Almodis, which established exclusive comital jurisdiction over it. From the 12th century a complex feudal structure was organised with several castellans; in 1069 the castellany was entrusted to Miró Ricolf de Pinós, with a garrison of twenty men. James I granted municipal statutes in 1242, and under Peter III the walls and fencing were restored in the mid-14th century. Today it survives in very poor condition: the oldest remains date from the 11th-12th centuries, and the best preserved part is the southern enclosing wall, from the 15th century. The town council acquired the ruins in 1984. It was declared a bien cultural de interés nacional (the highest heritage protection status in Catalonia) in 1985.
Monument
Castle documented since 1075, when Count Ermengol IV of Urgell ceded it to Arnau Traver; today only a few square-plan ruins survive, covered in vegetation, on a hill at 415 m altitude. From the old castle, which belonged to the term of Guissona within the county of Urgell, the village of la Figuerosa itself was born, gradually taking shape around it on the hillock where it sits. Of the fortification only three small mounds of irregular stones bonded with mortar survive, arranged to form a square, with walls less than a metre high; on the western and south-western slopes of the hill, remains of other structures that may have formed part of the enclosure can also be made out.
Monument
The castle of Riudovelles stands atop the hill on which the village sits, in the municipality of Tàrrega. Of the original building only remains of walls survive, reused in later attached constructions; next to the entrance gate that closes off the village a wall of well-squared ashlars that belonged to the castle can be seen, along with a flattened stone vault. It is mentioned for the first time in 1099, in the consecration act of the church of Guissona, and it belonged to the Order of the Temple between the 12th and 14th centuries. Its main façade was converted into a manor house in the 18th century.
Monument
The castle of l'Ofegat, in Tàrrega (Urgell), is a castle declared a bien cultural de interés nacional (the highest heritage protection status in Catalonia), whose remains stand on an isolated hill south-east of Altet, a hamlet annexed to Tàrrega. The castle is documented for the first time in 1133, in the will of Gombau I and his wife Agnès, who left their son some houses and an allod in “kastrum Offegad”; it gave its name to a lineage documented in deeds of the 12th and 13th centuries. It later passed under the dominion of the monastery of Santes Creus, and at the end of the 15th century it took the title of barony; in 1559 its owners sold it, with all its rights, to the general council of the town of Tàrrega. Of the scant remains preserved, a walled polygonal enclosure from the 11th century and a circular tower, of which a maximum height of four metres survives, can be distinguished.
Monument
The castle of Claravalls, in the municipality of Tàrrega, is a Gothic castle-palace documented since 1172 and declared a bien cultural de interés nacional (the highest heritage protection status in Catalonia). It stands on a knoll overlooking the village and consists of a ground floor and three storeys with a central courtyard; it has undergone numerous modifications, mainly additions and new openings, so that it barely retains anything of its original typology, resulting in a fairly complex typology. It is built of rectangular stone ashlars and rubble masonry, and the part of the building that has not collapsed remains inhabited. The original structure, from the 15th century, belongs to the Gothic style, although successive renovations mean that what can be seen today actually corresponds to a 17th-century rebuilding.
Nature
A grain-growing plain between the Segarra plateau and the lands irrigated by the Canal d'Urgell, with broad, gentle horizons. It descends with a slight slope from east to west, from about 400 metres near the Segarra down to just under 300. In the irrigated area, maize is today the most widespread crop, with about two thirds of that land devoted to grain cereals; part of the plain was incorporated into the new comarca of Pla d'Urgell when it was created in 1988.
Activity
FiraTàrrega is the most important and longest-running international performing arts market in Spain, and one of the most significant in Europe. It is held every year on the second weekend of September in Tàrrega, capital of the Urgell county (Lleida). It is a showcase for current performing arts, with special interest in street arts, visual performances and unconventional shows, and seeks to boost the performing arts market and the internationalisation of Catalan companies. It is organised by a board comprising the Tàrrega town council, the Diputació de Lleida, the Generalitat and the Ministry of Culture. It was founded in 1981 by the town council, driven by the group Comediants de Canet de Mar.
Curiosity
Traditional pork dish from the Urgell, slow-cooked with various parts of the animal.
Activity
Festa Major of the capital of the Urgell, with some sixty activities and the aplec de sardanas in the plaça del Carme.
Historical milestone
In July 1348, in the middle of the Black Death, a crowd assaulted the Jewish quarter of Tàrrega and killed a good part of its inhabitants. The excavations of the mass graves of Les Roquetes confirmed the violence of the episode, one of the worst in medieval Catalonia.
Historical milestone
In 1884 Alfonso XII granted Tàrrega the title of city. The recognition accompanied a stage of urban transformation with the demolition of walls, the opening of new streets and the construction of Modernista buildings around the main square.
Historical milestone
The railway line between Manresa, Tàrrega and Lleida was inaugurated in 1862 and connected the Plana with Barcelona. The train consolidated Tàrrega as the commercial and services centre of the comarca and facilitated the dispatch of grain and fruit.
Food and drink
Show of bakery products held in May within the Festa Major of Tàrrega and revolving around the cóc, the sweet or savoury coca typical of the comarca. It brings together local bakeries, tastings and recovered recipes.