Torà (; es, Torá) is a town and municipality in the North East of the ''

comarca A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...

'' (

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

) of

Segarra Segarra () is a Comarques of Catalonia, comarca (county) in Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Catalonia, Spain, situated on a high plain. Historically, the name referred to a larger area than the current comarca. It has a continental climate, wi ...

, in the province of Lleida,

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 nort ...

, Spain. The

urban structure Urban structure is the arrangement of land use in urban areas, in other words, how the land use of a city is set out. Urban planners, economists, and geographers have developed several models that explain where different types of people and busin ...

of the center has retained most of its original design, with narrow, twisting streets and blocks formed by rows of attached buildings. The Medieval town grew around a castle or fortified place (''Thoranum castrum''). A particular trait of the fortified origin of the town is the presence of a number of portals to allow several streets their pass through defensive barriers formed by the rows of buildings of the town and its walls. Torà is some 10 kilometers northeast from the more populated Guissona (6,145 inhabitants in 2010), a neighbor town that has experienced an important economic development in the last half century (mainly due to meat production and generation of a

meat packing industry The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...

) parallel to an unprecedented demographic growth sped up in the recent years (from 3,060 inhabitants in 1998 to 6,145 in 2010). The municipality stretches along ''la Vall'' (valley) ''de la Riera'' (creek or brook) ''de Llanera'' (the Valley of Llanera's Creek) up to the confluence with the Llobregós River. Its orography is rather uneven with the lowest point at 430m and peaks rising up to 850m above sea level. The North sector features ''el Tossal'' (a kind of hill) ''de l'Aguda'' (L'Aguda's Hill), ''el Tossal de Sant Donat'' (Snat Donat's Hill), and the creek named ''la Riera de Llanera'' flowing across. On the other hand, the South sector features the hills ''el Tossal de Sant Pere'' and ''el Tossal de la Pineda'', crossed by ''la Riera de Cellers'', one of the ''Riera de Llaneras tributary brooks merging on its left. The town is settled by the left bank of the creek ''la Riera de Llanera'', near the confluence with the Llobregós River, at the bottom of the mountain range ''la Serra de l'Aguda''.Lleida.com
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In 1968, the former municipality of Llanera was integrated to Torà.

Districts and neighbourhoods

These are the populated places present in the municipality of Torà: * Cellers (South East) *

Claret Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...

(South East) * Fontanet (Center) * Llanera (North East) * Sant Serni de Llanera (East) * Torà nuclear town (South West) * Vallferosa (North)

History

Battle of Torà

There was a battle of the

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

fought between an alliance of Catalan counts and an army of the

Caliphate of Córdoba The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and parts o ...

in 1003 AD at Torà.

Culture

Festivals

* ''La festa major'' (the main festival of the town) on 1 September, the feast day of ''Sant Gil'' ( Saint Giles, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Torà, extended to the first weekend of that month. * ''La Festa del Brut i la Bruta'' (the street party of He-brute and She-brute), in the weekend previous to the annual ''Carnestoltes'' ( carnival). * ''La festa del Roser'' (

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

bush Festival), in May. * ''Revetlles populars de barri'' (neighborhood street verbenas, country fairs) in the beginning of the summer, after ''la Revetlla de Sant Joan'' ( St. John's Eve on

midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr ...

Main sights

Municipal constructions

* Plaça del Vall (Moat's Square), the Main Square * Plaça de la Font (Fountain's Square), in the nucleus * Font dels Dolors (a public fountain), 200m from the nucleus * Casa de la Vila (the City Hall), a previous hospital located in Plaça del Vall * Museu del Pa (local Bread Museum) * ''Cementiri'' (the town's

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

) * ''Aqüeducte dels Frares'' ( aqueduct of the frays) behind ''Casa Farguell'' in the place known as ''Camí dels Tísics''. Built with blind round arches, 120m remaining * ''Pont de les Merites de Torà'' (ancient stone bridge) nearby the cemetery, with a round arch * ''Pontet del Diable'' also called ''Pontet de la Sentiu'', the remains of an aqueduct part of ''Rec del Moriquers'' also called ''Rec d'Ivorra'', an ''

acequia An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest particularly n ...

'' (a community-operated

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

) started in 1366, in use until 1920. Outside the town toward the South * Pou del Gel (an ancient ice well)

Military constructions and buildings

* Castell de l'Aguda (castle): in l'Aguda de Torà (ruins, expoliated) * Torre de Vallferosa (fortified

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

): in Vallferosa (highly restored) * Casa Castell de Llanera (castle-house): in Llanera (fortified manor house, very damaged, expoliated)

Romanesque architecture

* Monestir de Sant Celdoni i Sant Ermenter de Cellers (monastery): with three crossing

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''. ...

s and a crypt, in Cellers * Església de Claret (church), 12th century (highly reformed) * Església de Sant Miquel (church): in Fontanet * Església de Santa Maria de Llanera (church): in Llanera (expoliated) * Església de Sant Salvador (church): in l'Aguda de Torà

Jewish legacy

* Antic call jueu de Torà (the former Jewish quarter): in Torà's central nucleus :Location: ''Carrer Nou'', with access through two portals: ''Portal Nou'' at ''Plaça del Pati'' (

Courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

's Square), and a portal at ''Plaça de l'Església'' (Church's Square)article about Jewish culture at Lleidatur .com, the official website of the ''Patronat de Turisme de la Diputació de Lleida'' (the Province's Tourism Administration)
/ref>

Other monumental buildings

* ''Convent de Sant Anatoni de Pàdua'' (a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

devoted to Saint Anthony of Padua), built between 1697 and 1747 * L'Hostal (hostal), still in use * Església de Santa Maria (church): in Vallferosa (expoliated)

Gallery

File:Torà - Carrer.jpg, Torà - Street File:Tora_Xmas.jpg, Torà in Christmas File:Toracemetery.jpg, Torà - The town's

, taken from ''Avinguda de l'Aguda'' (l'Aguda de Torà Avenue) File:Cananuria.jpg, Torà - ''Ca na Núria'' ( Núria's house), ''Avinguda del Cementiri'' (Cemetery Av.) and ''Camí del Pont de Marites'' (Marites' Bridge's Farm Road) File:Torre de Vallferosa.jpg, Torà - ''Torre de Vallferosa'' (fortified

) File:Torà - Plaça del Vall - Holy Friday Market 1983.jpg, Torà - ''Plaça del Vall'' (main square) - Holy Friday market (1983)

Communications

Torà is along the county road C-1412. Coming from

Balaguer Balaguer () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebre. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city i ...

, C-1313 towards

La Seu d'Urgell La Seu d'Urgell (; es, Seo de Urgel, formerly in ca, Urgell}) is a town located in the Catalan Pyrenees in Spain. La Seu d'Urgell is also the capital of the comarca Alt Urgell, head of the judicial district of la Seu d'Urgell and the seat of ...

until Ponts and then, the road C-1412 towards

Calaf Calaf () is the main town in the northern portion of the ''comarca'' of the Anoia in Catalonia, Spain, situated on the Calaf Plain. The town holds an important weekly livestock market. It is served by the main N-II road from Barcelona to L ...

. Coming from

Cervera Cervera () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Segarra, in the province of Lleida, Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Spain. The title Comte de Cervera is a courtesy title, formerly part of the Crown of Aragon, that has been revived for Leonor ...

, the national road N-141, then the local road LV-3003.

Demographics

References

External links

* Town Council's website
Turisme Segarra .com /pobles /Torà (portal de la Segarra a Internet)
article with some detailed information about Torà published in the County's Tourism Website.
Lleida .com /municipis
a borough's database.
Government data pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tora Municipalities in Segarra Populated places in Segarra