The Castle of Gallifa is an ancient castle on the plain that accommodates

Gallifa Gallifa is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, north-eastern Spain.Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. ( ...

, a small village of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Spain.Castles in Spain
Spain.net, retrieved May 2014 It is a small fortification that was the historical and jurisdictional center of the village in the Middle Ages.

Description

The castle is on a high hill and comprises defensive walls around a plateau with portals on the west and east side, both of them with look-out towers.

History

In recent excavations Iberian walls were found from the 8th century BC that indicate a stable settlement in the territory. The first documentation of the castle is from 999 CE. Originally, the castle belonged to the

count of Barcelona The Count of Barcelona ( ca, Comte de Barcelona, es, Conde de Barcelona, french: Comte de Barcelone, ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, usages and Catalan constitutions, of ...

and was controlled by the Gallifa family, a name they adopted from the castle. They are documented from 1060 with Ramon, son of Adaltrudis, married to Rodlendis. He was followed by his son, Bernat Ramon de Gallifa, who was also a Castilian of the castle of Clarà, in Moia. Bernat Ramon died about 1115 and the castle was jointly inherited by his son Ramon Bernat, who was also Castilian of Maçanet, and his daughter Rodlendis, who was married to Guillem Humbert de Rocafort. In 1348 the lord of the castle was Bernardo de Guasius de Petra. Between 1357 and 1564 it was occupied by the Centelles family. Around that time the people from Gallifa bought their freedom from taxation from King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

for 10,000 ''sous''. The castle was no longer used as a fortress by the 16th century, and became the center of the parish of ''Santa Maria del Castell'' ("Saint Mary of the Castle").

Santa Maria del Castell

The Romanesque church of ''Santa Maria del Castell'' ("Saint Mary of the Castle") from the 11th century is built at high point inside the castle and is documented from 1060. It is a single

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

plan with an

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

and an upper fortified floor with an

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

built by the 14th century as a last resort for the inhabitants of the castle. Until 1860 it was parish seat of part of the area, sharing this function with the church of Gallifa. The original image of Santa Maria del Castell, dating from the 19th century, was ruined during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

(1936-1939).

Ecological sanctuary

In 1985, the priest of Gallifa, Josep Dalmau, started the reconstruction of the Romanesque hermitage. As the hermitage had no image, the collector Jesús Prujà offered an image of a Virgin from the 11th century, which he had found in the loft of a farmhouse near

Olot Olot () is the capital city of the ''comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The city is known for its natural landscape, including four volcanoes scattered around the city center. The municipality is part of the Zon ...

, acting as a buttress on the framework of the roof. The name and origin of the saint are not known. The priest Dalmau accepted it, renaming it with the dedication ''Mare de Déu de l´Ecologia'' ("Mother of God of the Ecology"). Once the church was restored, the place was converted into a meeting space for the defense of ecological values from a Christian perspective. In the perimeter of the ancient castle there is a park with several icons to the value of ecology, climbing, and mountaineering. In 1986 it received a three-branched pine sapling, a descendant of the symbolic

Pi de les Tres Branques Pi de les tres branques (in Catalan language, meaning "the three-branched pine") is a dead pine tree located in the countryside near the town of Berga in north-central Catalonia, Spain. It has long been regarded by some Catalan nationalists as re ...

References

{{Coord, 41, 41, 17, N, 2, 6, 41, E, type:city(224)_region:ES-CT, display=title

Buildings and structures in Vallès Occidental