Sant Martí d'Albars

Sant Martí d'Albars is a rural nucleus of seven houses scattered around the parish church. It is the old historic center of the municipality of Sant Martí d'Albars and where the primitive church was located, documented in the year 905 in the act of consecration of the church of Santa Maria de Lluçà. Currently, it is made up of the current parish church in the Baroque-Neoclassical style, the rectory, the Torre del Barón, Cal Vilardell, Cal Petit, Cal Sallés, Cal Basibé and Cal Campaner.

Near the nucleus passes the old royal road, also called the Camino de la Cendra, which came from Vic, crossed the Gavarresa by the Medieval bridge of Sant Martí d'Albars and headed west passing through the north of the nucleus of Beulaigua, where there is an ascending section of the cobbled path.

The nucleus already exists in the 10th century with the location of the church of Sant Martí d'Albars documented in the year 905 in the act of consecration of the church of Santa María de Lluçà, in which the bishop of Vic linked the consecrated church several churches, among which is the "Sancti Martini de Medians sive de Albars et suo priest". The configuration of the current core, however, corresponds to the period of great demographic growth that occurred both in Catalonia and also in Lluçanès in the 18th century. This is also indicated by the lintels of the houses in the nucleus and nearby that have the dates corresponding to this century inscribed.

In Sant Martí d'Albars there had been a group of shearers with a centuries-old tradition, formed more than two hundred years ago when the wool cattle activity was very important for the economy of Lluçanès. The shearers sheared the wool from the sheep before the flock prepared to go up to the high pastures of the Pyrenees.

Traditionally, the place name reflected throughout the documentation alternates between two forms: Sant Martí del Bas and Sant Martí d'Albars, although until the middle of the 11th century it coexisted with another name, "Medians", which would mean intermediate ground between two waters., as Sant Martí d'Albars is located between the Gavarresa stream and the Lluçanès stream.

The municipality of Sant Martí d'Albars is made up of three nuclei: Sant Martí d'Albars, Beulaigua and La Blava where the town hall is located.

The town has an important pellet manufacturing and cereal management industry, as well as a service station on the main communication axis of Lluçanès (the C-62). These economic activities and others mean that Sant Martí d'Albars generates more jobs than inhabitants of active working age, being an important town in the economic fabric of the region.