Balsareny

The municipality of Balsareny is located in the region of Bages. It delimits the river Llobregat, the hill of the castle and several mountain ranges. It limits to the north with the municipalities of Navàs and Gaià. To the east and to the south it borders Sallent and to the west with Castellnou de Bages.

People of central Catalonia, its climate is similar to that of the Catalan Depression, but with somewhat more rigorous temperatures, due to thermal inversions.

The forest occupies a quarter of the municipal area, and has increased in the last hundred years, due to the abandonment of land difficult to cultivate.

The same town sits on a large terrace that has been used in other places to cultivate fields or has been used to extract gravel. Deposits of potassium salts are important , exploited regularly since the 40s.

Places of interest

• The Balsareny Castle: It is undoubtedly the most representative and charismatic monument of the population and one of the best known in the region. It is very visible not only due to its situation, but also due to its size and its good state of conservation. Present from the origins in the events of the history of the town, the current physiognomy of the building corresponds to the purest Catalan Gothic civil style and dates from the 14th century.
• Parochial Church of Santa María: It is mentioned for the first time in 1009. Of the old pre-Romanesque building there are only a few remains in the façade, in the central nave and the bell tower.
• Fortín del Maurici: Fort located above the Sierra del Mauricio, from which it takes its name. It is located near the town, next to the road that goes to Súria and on the other side of the current Eje del Llobregat.
• The Hermitage of the Castle: Next to the fortress and in an excellent state of preservation, the chapel stands, a magnificent example of the austerity and purity of the first Catalan Romanesque.