Castle of Gallifa facts for kids
The Castle of Gallifa is a very old castle in a small village called Gallifa in Catalonia, Spain. For a long time in the Middle Ages, this small castle was the most important place in the village. It was like the main office and protector of the area.
Contents
What the Castle Looks Like
This castle sits on a hill about 600 meters (almost 2,000 feet) high. It has strong defensive walls all around a flat area at the top. There are two main entrances, one on the west side and one on the east. Both of these entrances have tall towers where guards could watch out for danger.
A Look at its History
People have lived in this area for a very long time! During recent digs, experts found old walls built by the Iberians way back in the 8th century BC. This shows that people had a steady home here even then. The first time the castle itself was written about was in the year 999 CE.
At first, the castle belonged to the count of Barcelona, a very powerful ruler. A family called Gallifa looked after the castle for the count. They even took their name from the castle! We know about them from the year 1060, starting with Ramon and his wife Rodlendis. Later, his son Bernat Ramon de Gallifa also looked after another castle.
After Bernat Ramon passed away around 1115, his son Ramon Bernat and his daughter Rodlendis shared the castle. Many years later, in 1348, Bernardo de Guasius de Petra was the lord of the castle. Then, from 1357 to 1564, the Centelles family lived there. Around that time, the people of Gallifa bought their freedom from paying taxes to King Philip II of Spain. They paid a lot of money, 10,000 sous, to be free!
By the 16th century, the castle was no longer used as a military fort. Instead, it became the center for the local church, known as Santa Maria del Castell (which means "Saint Mary of the Castle").
Santa Maria del Castell Church
The Santa Maria del Castell church is a very old Romanesque church from the 11th century. It is built right at the highest point inside the castle walls. We know it existed from the year 1060.
The church has one main room, called a nave, and a rounded end called an apse. By the 14th century, an upper floor was added with small openings for defense, called embrasures. This was a last safe place for people if the castle was attacked. Until 1860, this church was one of the main churches for the area, sharing duties with the church in Gallifa village.
Sadly, the original statue of Santa Maria del Castell, which was from the 19th century, was damaged during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
An Ecological Sanctuary
In 1985, the local priest, Josep Dalmau, began to rebuild the old church. Since the church didn't have a statue of the Virgin Mary, a collector named Jesús Prujà offered one. He had found an 11th-century statue of a Virgin in an old farmhouse near Olot, where it was being used to prop up a roof! No one knew the statue's original name or where it came from.
Priest Dalmau accepted the statue and gave it a new name: Mare de Déu de l´Ecologia (which means "Mother of God of the Ecology").
After the church was fixed up, the whole area became a special place. It's now a spot where people can meet and talk about protecting nature, especially from a Christian point of view. Around the old castle, there is a park with different symbols and artworks that celebrate nature, climbing, and mountaineering. In 1986, the park even received a special pine tree sapling. It was a descendant of the famous Pi de les Tres Branques, a symbolic tree in Catalonia.
See also
In Spanish: Castillo de Gallifa para niños
