Castellgalí (Catalan pronunciation: [kəsˌteʎ.ɣəˈli]) is a municipality in the south of the region of Bages, Catalonia, where the Cardener and Llobregat rivers meet, and contains the BCIN [ca] (Cultural Asset of National Interest) Boades archaeological site and the Torre del Breny, one of the most outstanding ancient Greek sites in Catalonia.
The location of the settlement of Boades between the Llobregat and Cardener rivers allowed its inhabitants to farm successfully on the fertile land, which led to a surplus and export of cereals.
Several important funerary monuments were also erected during this period, such as the Torre del Breny and the Roman tomb of Boades.
The Breny tower was a monumental Roman sepulchre in the form of a temple, partly dismantled in 1870 to allow its stones to be used for a nearby dam.
In 1178, the castle was sold, along with its lordship, to King Alfonso II of Aragon by Sibila, who was most probably a descendant of the Galí lineage.
At the beginning of the Catalan Civil War, the lord of Castellgalí, Manel de Rajadell, left the village because he was a supporter of Juan II.
In this period of change and conflict, when manorial rights were extinguished, the last Spanish colonies were lost and constant wars ravaged the country, Castellgalí was considered a safe place, a refuge for the troops.
The industrialisation of Castellgalí, which began in the 19th century, meant that the population grew until the end of the 1970s, except during the years of the Civil War.
Salvador Ginesta tells us about the origin of the name: "the place was once full of stones and weeds, which is the meaning of breny.
The apparatus is quite regular, made up of large, well-cut ashlars of grey sandstone, dry-jointed and elongated in shape.
It had a base (conditiorium) measuring 10x10.5 m, 3 m high; externally it had mouldings and other details as decorative elements; internally it was divided into two rooms and covered with a barrel vault.
On the other hand, E. Hübner and J. Gudi found a graffiti or inscription engraved on an ashlar that Marc Mayer believes must read: V VILGELMO QUE, which could date from the 10th-11th centuries and could correspond to a certain Wilgemus.
Excedra [ca] In the neighbourhood of Boadas we can see this chamber with an apsidal semicircular floor plan, partially standing behind the Vilaseca and Cadevall farmhouses, next to the road that leads to the Carbures factory.
The facing of the wall is made up of ashlars of natural stone from the area, of medium and small sizes, which can be identified as opus vittatum.
It has a window of considerable size crowned with a round arch made of roof tiles and fired-earth bricks, in a wall that reaches a height of 4 m. The exedra is a Roman building dating from the Lower Imperial period, very characteristic from the 3rd century onwards.
In 1684 he converted the building into a manor house, probably because the castle was in ruins, but he never lived there; when he modified the original structure he put his coat of arms on the façade.
The part occupied by the social premises was the old Hostel Café of Castellgalí and its rooms were used for dances and film screenings at the beginning of the 20th century.
On the front of the house (the west façade) we can see on the main lintel, the inscription 16IHS84 (1684 Iesus Hristus), under a cross; there is also, under a porthole, the coat of arms of the Amigant family.
It is a coat of arms cut in stone, of a noble type with a central circle with two hands clasped in friendship.
The outer part of the coat of arms is surrounded by scrolls that frame it, taped at the top by a standing human figure holding a feather in one hand and a wooden stick in the other.
The castle is documented as far back as924, when it was built by a character called Galí (Galindo), who would have owned the property in allodio.
Josep d'AmigantIi Ferrer took possession of the castle of Castellgalí on October 5, 1673, with a public signing ceremony that took place in the town square, which was curious, given that feudalism, as a political and even social factor, had lost much of its importance at a time when all the inhabitants made the sacrament of fealty.
As a curious fact, we should mention that at the beginning of 1348, Guillema, wife of Berenguer of Castellgalí, died in the castle; she would have wanted to be buried in the convent of the Virgin of Carmen, in the city of Manresa but, because of the "mortalities and pestilentias multas" (it means: "the great mortality and pestilence"), she was buried in the castle church.
A mass was held and the Gozos de Santa Margarita was sung; people brought their lunch and ate it around the hermitage.
Steps have been made to facilitate access, the esplanade has been levelled, the presbytery has been paved, a new altar has been built and the door has been barred.
It used to be celebrated on 8 May, which corresponds to the day of the apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel, a date that coincides with the start of the summer agricultural and livestock work, which, according to tradition, ends on September 29.
These are bread rolls, not to be confused with the panellets of the Castanyada, spherical sweets made of ground almonds, sugar and pine nuts.
Various activities have been integrated throughout the weekend, the "Ruta del Zorro", food market, various athletic competitions, demonstrations of old trades, gastronomic workshops, sculptors' meeting and sculpture exhibition, and children's games.
As for the industrial sector, the first company to set up in the municipality, in 1898, was the electric coal factory of Climent Asols y Bovets.
The Great War gave a strong boost to the company's activities and in 1914 it won a tender for the sale of electric coals for the lighting of Glasgow and Melbourne.