Albesa

The town of Albesa (237 m) is at the foot of a hill where the remains of the Albesa castle are located, in the western sector of the area, to the left of the Noguera Ribagorçana. In recent years, houses have been built mostly near communication routes. The old quarter is concentrated next to the parish church of Santa Maria, mentioned in the 12th century, although the building dates back to the second half of the 18th century; the construction seems to integrate a façade body with a belfry from a previous period. The church has three naves with side chapels, a false transept and a raised heart at the foot, and has a barrel vault roof with lunettes in the central nave, a ribbed vault on the side and a barrel vault in the chapels. A chevroned dome rises above the transept and the supports are pilasters that flank the formers arches of the lateral naves and support an entablature on which the central vault rests. The spatial organization of the building is clearly manifested in the exterior volumes, devoid of any ornamentation, since the only existing one was in the portal and was destroyed during the civil war of 1936-39.