The municipality of Llers is in a strategic location in Empordà, dominating the plain and is close to the route that crosses the Pyrenees. For this reason, its inhabitants have played an important role in many of the wars and invasions throughout history. The castle is located at the top of the old town of Llers. It was destroyed mainly due to the explosion of the gunpowder warehouse, located in the parish church, caused by Republican troops during the retreat in 1939. Today, the remains of Llers Castle, made up of a tower and a rectangular-walled enclosure, can be seen. The remains of various rooms are preserved inside the walled section. It is a very homogeneous construction, built during the 13th century following the traditional Romanesque model, with the central tower and the walled enclosure surrounding it, restored between 1981 and 2013.
The image shows part of the remains of the old castle in Llers: specifically, a master tower, from which the walls of the enclosure extend around it. It is made of rectangular ashlars and is large in size, despite the loss of much of the original building. In a photograph taken by Josep Maria Cañellas at the end of the 19th century, the tower was already in poor condition and there are no visible elements on its original plastering. Numerous cracks show its state of deterioration. To imagine the approximate proportions of the large size of the tower, we need to look at the individual at the bottom left of the image. The photograph is preserved in the Fages de Climent Library in Figueres, as part of the Rubaudonadeu Collection.
Literary Text
Conta una veu que cada fi de segle –quan, cor endins, s’afua la basarda de perdre el món sota el trepig dels passos–, al terme adust de Llers, famós de gestes, d’aspres castells cenyit, al punt de caure del cloquer bru les lentes batallades de mitjanit, naixien tretze bruixes –una de cada fort–, que amb les veïnes de Boadella i de l’Hortal fent colla, branden el goll d’aram de quinze esquelles emmetzinant l’alè de la centúria amb el deliqui eixorc de llurs entranyes.
LES BRUIXES DE LLERS, de Carles Fages de Climent
Text published on the Espais Escrits mapaliterari.cat website. Catalan Literary Heritage Network.
Location
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Pujada Del Castell 7, 17730 Llers, Provincia de Gerona, España
Category
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