All Sights

Starting almost any building project in Catalonia at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century guaranteed predictable, eye-pleasing results: Art Nouveau had taken the region by storm and started resembling an epidemic during that era. For the art lovers today, who are enthralled by the architectural style, this is a blessing and a curse: not only do we visit museums, theatres and lush houses of the bourgeoisie, but also explore former hospitals¹, slaughterhouses², tuberculosis dispensaries³ and even active cemeteries to get our fix.

The restoration works at the cemetery of Lloret de Mar took place in the heyday of Catalan Art Nouveau (the renovated cemetery was inaugurated on November 2, 1901) and coincided with the return home of yet another group of indianos (Spanish nationals who left Europe to make fortunes in Latin America and to return home extremely wealthy). Once all the splendid villas that were clearly necessary for the enjoyment of life were built, the indianos rolled up their expensive sleeves to prepare for comforts in the life after next, commissioning numerous family crypts, mausoleums, and monuments from the renowned architects and sculptors of the time.

And so, in Lloret de Mar, the place of eternal rest and remembrance turned into a tourist attraction. Today, each grave in the central part of the cemetery is marked with an information plaque that indicates the monument’s creator, the date it was built, the techniques used and any possible inspirations. Many monuments feature a photograph of the master that many visitors take for the portrait of the deceased. This is the case with Bonaventura Conill who contributed several works to the Lloret de Mar cemetery. After encountering his photo numerous times, one may inadvertently wonder just how many times he managed to die!

If you need a bit more convincing to visit a cemetery as part of your annual vacation, consider the names of Antoni Gallissà⁴, Eusebi Arnau⁵ and the great Josep Puig i Cadafalch. They all contributed to the unique Modernist cemetery in Lloret de Mar.

The cemetery is open to visitors from 8 am to 6 pm from November to March, and to 8 pm from April to October. The entrance is found at the intersection of Carrer de Plató and Avinguda Vila de Blanes.

¹⁾Hospital San Pau (officially known as El Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau) is a grandiose project of the Catalan Art Nouveau architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

²⁾Escorxador, “slaughterhouse”, is the project of Pere Caselles located in Reus, at Carrer Escorxador, s/n.

³⁾Dispensari Antituberculós, “anti-tuberculosis dispensary”, was built by Joan Rubió i Bellver, a pupil of Antoni Gaudí, in Reus, at Carrer Sant Joan, 38.

⁴⁾Antoni Maria Gallissà i Soqué is a Catalan Art Nouveau architect and a professor of the Barcelona School of Architecture who was famous not only for his standalone work in Barcelona and its environs, but also for participation in the projects of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Josep Jujol, Elies Rogent and other notable masters.

⁵⁾Eusebi Arnau i Mascort is a famous Catalan Art Nouveau sculptor who collaborated with Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and Enric Sagnier. The works of Arnau are present, in particular, on Barcelona’s Passeig de Gràcia (Casa Lleó i Morera and Casa Amatller), in the Hospital San Pau, at the Palau de la Música Catalana and in the Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor cathedral on the Tibidabo mountain.

Phone: 972 755 396
www.molidelmig.com

Phone: 972 477 618

Phone number: 972 202 632
Opening hours (October-April): Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Sundays and holidays 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Opening hours (May-September): Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, Sundays and holidays 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Closed on Mondays (including holidays), 25th and 26th December, 1st and 6th January. Open on 24th and 31st December 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Phone: 972 387 559
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday and holidays 10:00 am to 5:30 pm (1st October to 31st May), 10:00 am to 8:00 pm (1st June to 30th September).
Closed on 1st and 6th January, 25th and 26th December.

A modern tourist is not easily surprised. Every interesting place, quirky site or unknown object can be easily googled, looked up on Wikipedia and reviewed for all to see within seconds. While convenient, its puts your imagination to rest, unlike in the pre-internet times, when the only way to interpret the outside world was to use your own wits and (often limited) knowledge. So many then-unexplained phenomena were shrouded in mystery and became legends, each more detailed and colourful than the last.

Sadly, because the Medieval world was a harsh and unforgiving place, being scared of the unknown resulted in very sad stories. A handful had happy endings, whereas a select few, like the legend of the Castell Mont Roig that stands in ruins by the hamlet of Darnius, shaped out to be truly horrific.

The legend goes that there once lived a marquis with a really bad temper, who suspected his wife of infidelity and murdered her in a bout of rage. Predictably not feeling better after this, he then decided to go after the suspected lover of his murdered spouse. Preparing for revenge, the marquis skinned her body and cut her heart out, and sent a dinner invitation to her beloved. The unsuspecting guest was enjoying the meal and the interior design of the castle, up until he found out the ingredients of his supper and the nature of the “upholstery” of his chair. Delighted with the reaction of horror of his guest, the marquis then killed the man, mixed his blood with the blood of his wife and started painting the walls with it, blind with the rage that wouldn’t subside… and neither would the blood.

All the rooms were painted, all bedrooms and corridors, the sitting room and the parlour, but the blood still wasn’t running out. The mad marquis took to painting the rock on which his castle stood, covering its grey surface with bright scarlet. There still was blood, so much blood, and he would have covered all of the province of Girona red if it wasn’t for the heavens that intervened, striking the castle with lightning and burying its mad owner under the castle’s ruins…

The official history tells a less dramatic story.

The archives mention Castell Mont Roig for the first time in 1070, noting the ownership of a Besalu count. Many centuries later, in 1359, the local census makes a note of eight families living there. After that, radio silence, not counting sieges and battle damages, unsurprising considering the castle’s location. The largest battle around Mont Roig Castle took place in the fall of 1794, when the French army crossed the border and executed a fast attack, gaining control over the castle’s surrounding territories. The attempts of the Spanish army to recapture the castle were futile, resulting in deaths of generals on both sides. In the end, the exhausted Spanish regimens had retreated towards Girona, giving up Figueres to the French as well.

The combat went down in history as the battle of Darnius. It became the straw that broke the camel’s back — after the bloodshed, the remaining locals abandoned the now-uninhabitable spot. The ruins of the castle have survived to this day, however; in November 1988, it was added to the list of the cultural heritage objects of Spain.

And the reddish undertones of the rock that gave the castle its name (mont roig, from Catalan red mountain) and inspired the terrifying legend? The colour is simply due to the high iron concentration in the soil.

The fortress Castell del Montgrí sprung up at the top of the Montgrí mountain at the end of the 13th century, as a watchtower over the unruly Count of Ampurias Pons V who refused to recognize the royal reign of King of Aragon Jaume II. To monitor the likely movements of Pons’s army, the king had decreed his generals to find a convenient spot in the lands nearby, and such a spot was found in 1294, with construction starting immediately.

Usually, the fortifications of this sort take a long time to build and then to improve on over the centuries, but the Montgrí castle is an exception. The walls, the turrets, and the moat had barely gone up when the obstinate Count suddenly bent the knee — the construction of the fortress, now unnecessary, was frozen, as it turned out, forever.

The foundation of the Montgrí castle is a 31-meter square with walls rising to 13 meters. Each corner of the fortification hosts a cylindrical tower. A half-arc looking south hints at the location of the main entrance into the fortress. From an architectural point of view, the Montgrí castle isn’t anything special or unseen before, but it is a landmark spot in the Costa Brava nonetheless. The Montgrí mountain, despite its modest height (315 meters), has a pleasant round shape that is accentuated by the fortress at the top and can be spotted from afar. More importantly, the spot for the fortress has been chosen specifically for its views, and today it is the best observation point of the whole coast.

A modest hike is required to see the Montgrí castle up close. The beginner-friendly hiking route from the town centre of Torroella de Montgrí to the mountain summit will take most visitors about 40-50 minutes.