Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in Xerta

What to see and do in Xerta (Baix Ebre, Tarragona): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 3 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Xerta

Towns near Xerta

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Spain › Catalonia › Tarragona › Baix Ebre › Xerta

What to see and do in Xerta

Xerta
Village
Xerta, in Spanish Cherta, is a town in Baix Ebre, in the province of Tarragona, with 1,180 inhabitants, set on a meander of the right bank of the Ebro, twelve kilometres upstream from Tortosa. It is the starting point of the main irrigation channel that waters the delta, thanks to the Cherta weir, a dam built diagonally along some 375 metres, three kilometres upstream from the town, which raises the water to the irrigation canals on both banks and is declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). The municipality once had its own station on the Val de Zafán railway, intended to reach San Carlos de la Rápita, which never got beyond Tortosa before its closure in 1973.
Church of Xerta
Monument
The Church of the Assumption is the parish church of Xerta (Baix Ebre), protected as a bien cultural de interés local (a local-level heritage protection category in Catalonia). It has two naves: the main body, with an eight-part rib vault and four side chapels on each side, and the neo-Romanesque bell tower at the foot. The façade, rebuilt in 1858 in neo-Renaissance style, features above the doorway a window flanked by niches with the images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The temple was founded in 1325 with a single nave; work on the present central nave began in 1580, and in 1628 it was inaugurated by Joan Sentís, bishop of Barcelona and viceroy of Catalonia, a native of Xerta.
Séquia Major (Main Canal) of the Ebro
Nature
The Séquia Major de l'Ebre rises at the Xerta weir, located about 15 kilometres upstream from Tortosa and 3 kilometres from the town of Xerta, and is one of the most important historic hydraulic features of the río Ebro. The 55-kilometre main canal was built between 1856 and 1857 by the Reial Companyia de Canalització de l'Ebre, under the concession granted in 1849 to the Frenchman Isidore Pourcet, and is completed by 49 kilometres of secondary channels totalling more than 300 kilometres of irrigation network. With a capacity of about 30 cubic metres per second, it irrigates 12,096 hectares of the Baix Ebre and Montsià, mainly around Amposta, of which 85% is devoted to rice cultivation.
Weir of Xerta
Curiosity
The Assut de Xerta is a dam built diagonally across some 375 metres of the río Ebro, three kilometres upstream from Xerta, whose function is to divert water into the Derecha and Izquierda canals of the Ebro and which gives rise to the Séquia Major irrigation system. Declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional in 2002 (Catalonia's top level of heritage protection), a category later annulled by the Tribunal Supremo, it is today protected as a Bien Cultural de Interés Local (a local-level heritage protection category in Catalonia). Its diagonal layout is unusual, since most such dams run perpendicular to the banks; water that is not diverted is discharged through a large central spillway. Next to the dam stands the mill building, with a plaque from 1575, remodelled until it was used as a power plant in the late 19th century.
Xerta Main Festival
Activity
Xerta's patron is Sant Martí de Tours, to whom a chapel of the parish church is dedicated with an altar depicting him on horseback; the village, situated at the historic Ebro weir, holds its festa major d'hivern on this patron's feast day.
Xerta Winter Main Festival
Activity
Xerta's Festa Major d'Hivern is held in the village of the weir that gives rise to the Séquia Major de l'Ebre; the 1849 concession led to the Real Compañía de Canalización del Ebro, and the Canal de la Dreta, opened between 1856 and 1857, today irrigates some 12,000 hectares as far as Sant Jaume d'Enveja.
Festivities of invierno de Xerta
Activity
Xerta's winter festival is held in the village of the historic Assut on the Ebro, the source of the Séquia Major that irrigates the delta.
Canal de la Dreta de l'Ebre
Historical milestone
The concession obtained in 1849 gave rise to the Real Compañía de Canalización del Ebro, in 1852. Opened between 1856 and 1857 from the Xerta weir, some 15 kilometres upstream of Tortosa, the canal runs 55 kilometres to Sant Jaume d'Enveja and irrigates about 12,000 hectares, 85% of them rice, by means of eight main irrigation channels and an irrigation network of over 300 kilometres. It has a capacity of about 30 cubic metres per second and passes through Amposta, near the ruins of the old castle, fortified during the Third Carlist War. Its forerunner was the first navigation canal between Amposta and Sant Carles de la Ràpita, begun in 1780, which was rendered useless by river sediment around 1783.