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Lleida (El Segrià - Spain) deserves special and comprehensive mention, as it invites the expression of art and poetry. What is more, Lleida is art and poetry in itself. It is a must for visitors to walk down the Carrer Major (main street) and visit the Peu del Romeu and the old hospital of Santa Maria, nowadays the headquarters of the Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs and the only building built from top to bottom in the Gothic style. La Seu Vella is Lleida’s most emblematic building. Sant Llorenç, Sant Martí Vell, Gardeny (with its fine Templars castle) and the new Cathedral should also be visited. However, what should be restored to collective memory, in the way that it has already been restored to the city after years of tireless and painstaking restoration work, is one of the world’s jewels in this field, and which Lleida has every right to be proud of: the Academia Mariana. The Academia Mariana was founded in Lleida on 12th October 1862 and this would later have a great repercussion on the future of the city and its inhabitants. Its main architect was the Rvd. Josep Maria Escolà i Cugat, in collaboration with Sr. Josep Mensa i Font and Dr. Lluís Roca Florejach. The purpose of the Academia Mariana was to honour the Virgin Mary and to disseminate her excellence and glory through literature and the fine arts. It should also be added that it played an important role in the Renaissance movement in Lleida. On 19th September 1868 the reverend Escolà i Cugat bought a plot of land some 100 metres from Carrer Sant Antoni, with the purpose of building a grand palace dedicated to the Virgin Mary and establishing therein the headquarters of the Academia Mariana. On 24th September 1869 the first stone was laid and on 12th November 1871 the bishop of Urgell, Dr. Josep Caixal, blessed the oratory of the Academia, and at the same time the image of the patron saint was transferred there. This image was subsequently damaged in the year 1936. In 1940 it was replaced by a new image produced by the workshop "La Artística", which blonged to widow Reixac of Barcelona. The Academia Mariana possesses both papal and royal titles. The papal title was conceded by Pope Pious XI on 15th May 1923. The royal title was granted by King Alfonso XIII on 26th June 1923. Favours were consequently continually received from both the Royal Court and from Rome due to the possession of both titles. On 5th January 1946, Pope Pious XII, through a special brief, proclaimed the Academy’s patron the patron saint of the city of Lleida in perpetuity. Source and photographic archive: JOAN BELLMUNT I FIGUERAS
Going up the hill towards the higher part of the village of Alguaire (El Segrià - Spain) the visitor will encounter the sanctuary del Merli. According to information provided by Joan Font i Rius in the latter part of the verses in honour of the Virgin, it is built on the ruins of an ancient Visigoth temple. It is believed that this was probably the original and an independent nucleus from what would eventually become the village of Alguaire. Archaeological findings made at the site have given further weight to this theory. Until the year 1250 the Order of the Knights of the Hospital resided in the castle fortress above Alguaire, which they donated on 23rd July of that year to the nuns of the same order, which constituted the Tribute of Cervera. Dating from the year 1264, when the castle had already been converted into the great monastery of Sant Joan —of which very little remains today—, comes the legend of the discovery of the la Mare de Déu del Merli in a church which at that time was very possibly in ruins. The nuns rebuilt the church, with reconstruction work starting in 1265 and not finishing until 1278. The popular story tells of how among the ruins of the chapel, and of what had once been the old village, a shepherd found an image of the Virgin on a battlement and it was for this reason that the virgin was called “del Merli” (because in Catala, merlet means "battlement"). The works were very slow and costly, because in addition to the sanctuary, the hermitage and the house for resident priests were also built, with the latter receiving the title of "Casa del Merli" (the House of Merli). As ladies of Alguaire, the nuns were always particularly careful to look after and promote the Mare de Déu del Merli and to extent its devotion. This diligent devotion was transcribed onto documents of all kinds over the centuries and in this way the nuns went about endowing and improving the sanctuary to the best of their abilities while they remained in Alguaire. The present church largely dates from the 13th Century, though it was restored in the middle of the 16th Century when a chapel was built onto it, although this has since disappeared. The building was once again reformed and enlarged in the 18th Century. It is a construction made completely of stone, with a barrel vault and two side chapels: the one on the right is the chapel of the Holy Crucifix. Nowadays a Romanesque window is visible on both sides of the exterior. The building can be accessed by vehicle and is open to visitors who have previously requested the key from the local priest. Source and photographic archive: JOAN BELLMUNT I FIGUERAS
Shortly after leaving Seròs in the direction of La Granja d'Escarp visitors will come across the ancient monastery of Avinganya (El Segrià - Spain). The set of buildings now consists of the church, the cloisters and the residential and farm buildings. Nowadays this is the headquarters of the Avinganya Centre for Archaeology of the Public Foundation of the Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs, which depends on the Diputació de Lleida. Although this cannot be categorically stated, all available indications suggest that in the 11th Century there was an Islamic tower on this site. In the year 1149, when Ramon Berenguer IV re-conquered Lleida and these lands, the site of Avinganya passed into the hands of Pere de Bellvís, who was captured by the Arabs of the Islamic kingdom of Valencia at the end of the 12th Century. When he was released, thanks to the mediation of the order of the Trinitarians, in the year 1201, Pere de Bellvís donated the “tower” of Avinganya to this order. It was thus — as monsignor Pladevall informs us — that the Trinitarian order entered Spanish lands through Catalonia. In fact, Sant Joan de Mata (Saint John of Mata), personally came to Lleida to disseminate information about his order in the city. It was in the "tower" of Avinganya, in the municipality of Seròs, that the first Trinitarian house in the Iberian Peninsula was founded and dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels. This house came to be the first residence of the Trinitarian nuns, who led a strict monastic life. Princess Constança was admitted here and when widowed she took possession of the monastery in the year 1250. She then became the founder of the first female Trinitarian monastery possessed by the order on the peninsula. In this period the monastery was under the protection of the powerful Montcada family, who took the monastery’s church and made it into their own family vault: in the process they carried out a series of important modifications. Its present appearance, however, is largely the result of reforms carried out during the Baroque period. The consequences of the sale of church lands were terrible for the conservation of the monastic site. Today, however, it has largely been restored and is now one of the most emblematic sites in the Lands of Lleida. It can be accessed by vehicle and there is ample parking space. Information about visiting times should be requested from the Archaeological Service of the Institut d’Estudis (tel. 973 27 15 00). Source and photographic archive: JOAN BELLMUNT I FIGUERAS
