Os de Balaguer

Os de Balaguer is a municipality in the region of La Noguera, very close to the capital of the region, Balaguer. Os is the main nucleus of the municipality that is made up of the entities of Gerb, Alberola and the Monastery of les Avellanes. These nuclei have undergone modifications over the years, since some formerly belonged to municipalities that have now disappeared. Os de Balaguer is crowned by a castle built by Ermengol IV Count of Urgell, where he died and a cylindrical tower from the 13th century stands out. This castle is located on top of a hill that is flanked by the Farfanya River and is also surrounded by a wall, which was already built in the 9th century, during the Muslim fortification. Today the narrow and steep streets with facades from the 17th and 18th centuries still remain.

Within the municipality of Os de Balaguer we find different places of interest such as:

Monastery of Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes

The monastery is made up of a Gothic church from the 14th century and a Romanesque cloister from the end of the 12th century, which in turn is the oldest fragment of the entire complex. In fact, the monastery has undergone several modifications, although it can be considered mostly Gothic.

Within the municipality of Os de Balaguer we also find an old female Cistercian monastery, of which only the apse area remains visible, known as the Monastery of Santa Maria de Vallverd.

Apart from the two previous monasteries, Os de Balaguer has a good number of hermitages and sanctuaries such as the Sanctuary of Santa María de Cérvoles or the hermitage of Nostra Senyora d'Aguilar.

Cave of the Vilars

In this cave there are about 30 rock painting figures and symbols dated between 1800-650 BC. In addition to various stone structures, ceramic and bone instruments were also discovered at the time of the find.

Os de Balaguer has several other caves, such as the Cueva del Foric, the Cueva Negra de Tragó and the Cueva del Estret de Tragó.

Sant Pitot fountain

It is a monumental fountain from the 18th century with a rectangular plan and decorated with a statue of Neptune accompanied by two dogs and floral decorations.

In addition, there is also the old laundry and water source that supplied the population of Os de Balaguer and is known as the Font Vella.

the castle

The castle, of great proportions, with the original foundations corresponding to a Saracen fortress from the 9th century used to defend the border with the Carolingians.

A cylindrical tower from the 13th century, a fragment of the wall and some voussoir portals stand out. Currently, it is in the restoration phase. Of Arab origin, it is documented as early as 1036.

Located on top of a hill, above the village of Os de Balaguer. It controlled the upper reaches of the Farfanya River.

Canelles Reservoir

It is the largest in the Noguera Ribagorzana basin, with the highest dam in the country (137 meters) and the second highest in Europe when it was finished. It takes place between places of great beauty, unknown to many people, on the border between the provinces of Lleida and Huesca.

Guided visits are made to the hydroelectric power station and the dam complex, which includes the Black Cave. You can also enjoy an unforgettable catamaran ride through the reservoir to visit the Finestres rocks or the Mont-rebei gorge.

Sanctuary of Santa Maria de Cérvoles

It is located on a large landing at 778 meters above sea level. This Gothic chapel was demolished and in its place a new church and a hostel for pilgrims were built. Later, in the middle of the 20th century, the mansion was also demolished and the chapel redone.

The hermitage is the only building that remains from an architectural ensemble that has varied greatly over the years.

Hermitage of Our Lady of Aguilar

Former Marian sanctuary that depended on the monastery of Sta. M. de Bellpuig de las Avellanes; built before the year 1240, the year in which the nuns who until then had been in the aforementioned monastery moved there.

According to Caresmar, in 1740 excavations were carried out that revealed many sarcophagus burials without any inscription.

Female Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria de Vallverd

The first document referring to the church of Santa Maria dates from 1092; during the following years, many donations were made in his favor and purchases until the year 1452 when he joined Les Franqueses, due to economic precariousness.

Only the head of the church remains, which was a building with a single nave, covered with a barrel vault, with a pointed profile, with a head to the east formed by three apses whose central one is semicircular.

Hermitage of Sant Salvador

Old abandoned medieval population center. It is typical that in later concentrations of population, many nuclei like these disappeared in the late Middle Ages.

Located right at the end of a small plain on the path that rises from the Vila-seca plain, dominating the entire Vila-seca plain and the ravines that descend towards the Santa Anna reservoir.

Medieval village of Vilot d'Alberola

The vilot was conquered from the Muslims at the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th century by Guerau Ponç II de Cabrera, becoming part of the Vizcounty of Àger; it was surely abandoned in the Late Middle Ages.

Town closed behind a wall, with a church and a possible castle, located on top of a hill, on a buttress of the Sierra de Sant Miquel. It is on the fields of Alberola, in front of the current town, in the shade.

Montessor, castle and village

Surveillance area over the Strait of Tragó conquered from the Arabs before 1104 and donated to the Àger abbey.

Located at the top and at the foot of some rocks at the end of the Sierra de Sant Miquel; on the south side there is a cultivated plateau, to the north the shaded area of Alberola and to the northwest the basin of the Noguera Ribagorzana. The construction remains of the castle are very small. They are located on top of the rocks.

Sant Antoni and the Virgin of Gerb

Old parish church; The first documentary reference dates from 1082. Also known as the Old Church of St. Salvador or the Church of Poble Vell.

Foric cave

Cave that shows an evolution from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age in which the caves are changing their functionality of habitat instead of burial.

Located near the crest of the Sierra de Os, on the N. De la Sierra slope. Ideal for agriculture and incipient livestock.

Black Cave of Swallowed

Time in which caves are once again used as a habitat, combined with open-air settlements.

Located at the foot of the S. De Blancafort, 75 m above the course of the Noguera Ribagorzana river, with a magnificent view over an old gorge of the river (now a dam of the Canelles Reservoir).

Cave of Estret de Tragó

The Estret de Tragó is a calcareous shelter located on the banks of the Noguera Ribagorzana, currently the Santa Anna reservoir ( Os de Balaguer, Lleida). The site was discovered in 1989 when the reservoir was emptied and a series of graphic documentation works of the area's historical heritage were carried out.

I saw you

Typical Late Bronze Age spur settlement, enclosed by a wall for the only easy access and probably a moat. There are remains of the wall and terraces on the slope to make it habitable. Material remains of some fragments of handmade pottery.

Font Vella

Old laundry and water source in the town of Os de Balaguer. Currently, in ruins, a stone wall and four ceramic pillars with edges of wooden beams that formed the roof, and the sinks of the laundry rooms are still standing.

Beginning of the Acequia de Menárguenos

S.XVII, civil infrastructure works of the Iberian enlightened monarchies, in this case to improve the irrigation of the Balaguer plain.

Capitals of Morulls (Gerb)

They come from the Roman villa of the Morulls game, in Gerb. They decorate and support the now of the altar of the new church of Sant Salvador de Gerb.

Four inverted truncated pyramidal capitals present a solution that goes from the circle at the base of the capital (with a slightly marked collar on three capitals) to the square shape of the upper part of the abacus, which has three dice per face, one on each corner and the third in the center.

Santa Maria de Montessor

It is a building with a single nave, covered with a barrel vault, cupped to the east by a semicircular apse, of which only vestiges of the lower courses remain. The entire western part, where the door and a window are located, has been looted, and the entire exterior wall of the façade is missing.

Pipe organ of the Monastery of Les Avellanes

The municipality of Os de Balaguer has a pipe organ. This organ is located in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes, and together with that of Ponts and Àger they are the only ones that remain in the region of La Noguera.

The church of the monastery of Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes had an organ at least since the 18th century.

old town streets

The old population was walled. It still preserves narrow and steep streets where you can see some facades and portals, some from the 17th and 18th centuries. Urbanism developed from the Castle. The oldest architecture is preserved in the buildings located between the castle and the village church.