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Cabanyes Font house (1877) |
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A
typical stately home from the end of the last century
with modernist elements, especially in the so called
Americano furniture. It belonged to the Cabanyes
Font family, the owners of St Pere del Bosc.
It
was built in 1877 and purchased by the town hall in
1982, nowadays it houses the Municipal Museum.
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Town Hall (1868-1872) |
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Neo-classical
style. Constructed according to the plans drawn up by
architect Félix de Azúa between 1868 and 1872.
In 1867 it was agreed that the Torre de la Vila (town's
tower) should be demolished. The walls of the old d'En
Pau Rei mill were also at risk of ruin and were
torn down. With the demolition of the tower the city
was left without a town hall. The authorisation to demolish
the tower was granted by the civil governor in July
1867 and by September the projects and budgets for the
new town hall had already been prepared and the bidding
conditions for the work were approved by the city council.
The budget for this work totalled 1.981.660 escudos
(300.22 Euros), four times the total ordinary budget
for that year.
With
the placement of the Comunity Hall some thirty metres
closer to the sea than the old fort and the subsequent
alignement of the future esplanades with the new factory,
a series of plots of land pertaining to the City Hall
appeared. The Casa de la Vila or town hall, one
of the most modest in Catalonia, was solemnly inagurated
in February 1872 and attended by the Province's highest
authorities. A telegraph was inagurated in 1884 and
the City Hall´s clock was installed the same year. Construction
of the bell tower, named bona nit (good night),
was awarded to the blacksmith Pere Tarrats at
a price of 90 cents per Kilo. Thus the work was contracted
by weight.
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Sant Joan's castle (X c.) |
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This
castle was built during the XI Century and dominated
under a feudal system the village. Inspite of the different
rebellions, local population could not burst feudal
bonds until XVIII Century.
The
castle suffered severe damages after a Genoese attack
and also during the war against Napoleon's Grand Armee
(also known as the Frenchman's War); diverse storms
during the past centuries finished this destructive
job.
The main tower resisted since mid past century, when
a heavy storm had flattened the remains. Recently reconstructed,
this tower is the only evidence of its past glory.
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En Plaja's Castle (1935) |
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Private
building in castle shape from end of Spanish Civil War.
It become one of the most popular pictures to represent
Lloret and has been offten confused as a medieval castle.
Settled
in northern side of the Lloret's main beach, oposite
to the Dona Marinera monument in the calm beach
of La Caleta.
The
backside of the castle is the trailhead of the so called
Camí de Ronda (surveillance trail), recently
recuperated, from where you can take a walk along the
coast.
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Cemetery (1900) |
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The
Municipal cemetery (1900) contains sumptuous Modernist
style sepulchres from the Gaudí school.
At
the entrance to the village, and the foot of an illuminated
fountain, the verses of Sebastià Sánchez Juan
extol the special character of the inhabitants of Lloret:
"Fora d'humana mida no resulta res que es doni a
Lloret: atzar, fatic, recordats piament, tenen un culte
al fons del cor com en un vidre antic" (Camí del
repòs, 200 meters from Sant Quirze hermitage).
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Santa Clotilde Gardens (1919) |
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The
Santa Clotilde gardens in Lloret de Mar are set in a
natural amphitheatre overlooking the sea. They cover
a surface area of 26.830 square metres, and the upper
esplanade stands 50 metres above sea level. The gardens
are currently property of Lloret de Mar town Council.
At the begining of the twentieth century, Doctor
Roviralta bought the land to built a house and gardens.
The design was entrusted to Nicolau M. Rubio i Tadurí,
who in time was to become the maximum exponent of Catalan
landscape architecture.
Santa
Clotilde Gardens were designed along Italia Renaissance
lines: terraced gardens with ample views on the surrounding
area and harmonically arranged native species. The balance
between space, volume and colour is set off by certain
ornamental elements which form various points of interest
of great beauty.
The
sculptures are placed in the garden to create different
points of interest. There are sculptural groups associated
with water such as Marià Llimona's bronze
mermaids on the main staircase. In the concourses and
"miradors" there are classically inspired
busts on ivy-covered pedestals.
The
dramatic effect is further enhanced by the play of colours:
the blue of the sky, the permanent green of the vegetation
and the white of the ground, the sculptures and the
white poplars.
Set
in a natural amphitheatre, the Santa Clotilde Gardens
offer open views over the surrounding landscape. The
use of some of the same species that grow in the surrounding
landscape means that it is sometimes difficult to tell
where the garden end and the natural landscape begins.
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The Garriga Houses (1872) |
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The Garriga House, constructed in 1887, belonged to
a well known Lloret family that had emigrate to Cuba.
Confirming all of this, mention is made in the 1716
census of a Cristina Garriga, a widow, head of
a family, about 48 years old with a 14 years old soon
and a 16 years old daughter. The document states, "She
is poor through her husband being slaved". In contrast
with this situation, the Garrigas of fifty years later,
thanks to their work in America, have a different economic
power and become one of the most distinguished families
in the community.
The
construction of the Garriga House, previously mentioned,
bears this out. Thus, a promenade where palm trees would
later be planted occupies the space between this house
and the town hall. This, along with the fact that the
majority of the building long the front maintain a truly
colonial air, was to give this urbanistic sector of
Lloret a very evocative West Indian look. Behind the
Town Hall at one end and the Garriga House
at the other, alongside the land adjacent to the
beach there was a reparcelling into plots at the end
of the last century. The resultant plots were sold to
buyers who happened to be repatriated Indianos
or Americanos and who built new homes on them.
The
tourist "boom" in Lloret, brought about unprecedented
urbanistic change whereby almost all of the Americano
stately homes disappeared, victims of speculation. The
Garriga House, together with some others, are today
the few exceptions. Is a clear and magnigicient example
of an era which, after all, is still deeply rooted in
the autochtonous population of Lloret.
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Roman sepulchral (II c. AD) |
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A
Romanic burial monument dating back to the second century
AD and discovered in 1891, which forms part of a cremation
necropolis dated between the first and third centuries
AD.
Its
owner was probably a landowner from a nearby Roman town
whose ashes were kept in an urn located in the top of
the tower. It is 4 meters high and consists of a base,
the body of the tower and a roof with a railing on three
of its four sides.
The
remains we can see today are from a reconstruction in
1968, because shortly before the tower was knocked down
in a regrettable manner.
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Montbarbat fortified enclosure
(IV-III c. BC) |
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The
farest site from the village, it seems to be the most
important Iberian enclosure of this area. It has been
found some Atic ceramic fragments, which prove the greek
influence in this part of the land.
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Puig de Castellet fortified enclosure
(III c. BC) |
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This
Iberic settlement was a fortified enclosure inhabited
for fourty years from 250 to 210 BC, and abandoned at
the end of the second Punic war. It is situated on the
northwest face of the hill, dominating a vast area of
the coastline and beeing inspite, completly invisible
as from the sea. That's why it's believed that was a
militar site for survellance and control of the coast
and the immediate hinterland inhabited by warriors and
their families, probably depending from the close settlement
in Montbarbat.
This
archeological site has been opened to the public and
you can also enjoy the panoramic view of the contryside.
It has a pentagonal shape 30 meters wide, two gateways
lead into the interior where there are eleven spaces
with three rooms each. Each house has its own working
and living area attached to the outside walls in order
to get the best sun light and heating conditions.
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