The Castelltallat range ( Catalan: Serra de Castelltallat) is located in central Catalonia ( Spain) between the comarcas of Bages and Solsonès, extending over the provinces of Barcelona and

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

, and occupying an area of about 65 square kilometres. It is one of the isolated hills of the

Catalan Central Depression The Catalan Central Depression ( ca, Depressió Central Catalana) is a natural depression between the Pre-Pyrenees and the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range in Spain. It widens towards the west, linking with the Ebro Depression, ca, Depressió de l'E ...

and is located at its southwestern end.

Description

Geologically the Castelltallat range is made up of limestone and

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

mountains oriented WSW-ENE. The highest point of the range is the 936 m high "Tossal". The northern slopes are steep and forested, while the southern slopes are used for agriculture owing to their lesser inclination. Most of the mountain belongs to the municipality of

Sant Mateu de Bages Sant Mateu de Bages is a village in the comarca of Bages in province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality covers an area of and the population in 2014 was 644. References External links Government da ...

while the western part lies within the municipalities of Pinós and La Molsosa. The village of Castelltallat was a municipality until 1840 when it became part of San Mateu de Bages municipal term. The parish church of Sant Miquel has been documented since 1031 and is located at an altitude of 887 m. The Church contains samples of Romanesque, Renaissance,

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and neoclassical architectural styles. It was built at the feet of the now ruined 10th or 11th century Castelltallat castle which gave its name to the mountain range, for "Castell talaiat" comes from the words ''"Castell"'', castle, and ''"Talaia"'', watchtower.

Climate

Submediterranean climate In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

with a mean annual temperature of 12 °C, January is the coldest month (3'5 °C) and July and August the warmest (21'5 °C) and annual precipitation of about 600 liters with little or no snow. Most of the range is part of an "Areas of Natural Interest Plan" (''PEIN'') of the government of Catalonia.

Fauna and flora

Before the wildfires of 1994 and 1998, pines dominated the landscape: ''

Pinus nigra ''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as wel ...

'', '' Pinus halepensis'' '' Pinus sylvestris'' and a lesser extent '' Pinus pinea''. After the fires ''

Quercus humilis ''Quercus pubescens'', the downy oak or pubescent oak, is a species of white oak (genus ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus'') native to southern Europe and southwest Asia, from northern Spain (Pyrenees) east to the Crimea and the Caucasus. It is also fo ...

'' and ''

Quercus ilex ''Quercus ilex'', the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer. Description An evergreen tr ...

'' sprouts became the most visible trees. Where there is no forest predominate meadow '' Aphyllantion'' or '' Brachypodium'' and shrubs specially '' Dorycnum pentaphyllum'' and rosemary. It is remarkable for the presence of the gypsophilous plant named ''ruac'' ('' Ononis tridentata'') in some small gypsum patches and the bastard balm (''

Melittis melissophyllum ''Melittis melissophyllum'' is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. Its common name is bastard balm. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melittis''.Scheen, A. C., et al. (2008)Molecular phylogenetics of tribe S ...

''). Also interesting are the examples of yellow foxglove (''

Digitalis lutea ''Digitalis lutea'', the straw foxglove or small yellow foxglove, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, that is native to western and southern Europe and North West Africa. A short-lived herbaceous perennial or b ...

''), ''Primulas'' (''

Primula acaulis ''Primula vulgaris'', the common primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and parts of southwest Asia.''Flora Europaea'Primula vulgaris''/ref> The common n ...

'') and the broom ('' Genista cinerea''). The bird population seems to have been little affected by wildfires. Among the birds Eurasian eagle-owl ( ''Bubo bubo'') is the greatest between the nesting birds. Since a few years it can see the griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus'') fly, coming from the neighboring county of upper Solsonès. The number of partridges do not seem to have changed after wildfires. Between feral mammals the number of wild boars and

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

es is increasing. The population of

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s in contrast, is highly variable.

The astronomical observatory

The

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

was built close to the ruins of the ancient castle as part of the revitalization of the area after numerous forest fires. Opened in 2004, the dome of the observatory has a diameter of 5 meters and the telescope 400 mm.

References

Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana * Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. (Spanish).

Arqueociencia with picture of the castle ruins.

External links