Bonastre
Encyclopedia
Bonastre is a municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in the comarca
Comarques of Catalonia
This is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...

 of the Baix Penedès
Baix Penedès
Baix Penedès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. The area has been settled since the times of the Iberians, with ancient ruins remaining in Banyeres at Can Canyís, in the capital el Vendrell at the village of Guàrdies and in Calafell at the villages of Toixoneres and la Ciutadella .- Municipalities...

in
Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. It is situated in the west of the comarca in the Quadrell range.

In 1178, Bernat de Papiol, who was lord of the place, donated it to the Monastery of St Cugat
Sant Cugat del Vallès
Sant Cugat del Vallès is a town and municipality north of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. In antiquity known as Castrum Octavianum, it is named after Saint Cucuphas, who is said to have been martyred on the spot now occupied by its medieval monastery.Sant Cugat has seen its population increase in...

. In 1382, King Pedro IV
Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV, , called el Cerimoniós or el del punyalet , was the King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica , King of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona Peter IV, (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 – Barcelona, January 6, 1387), called el Cerimoniós ("the Ceremonious") or el del punyalet ("the one...

 took possession of Bonastre for the crown although the monastery continued to govern the village until the 17th Century.

During the Trienio Liberal Bonastre supported the royalists. In 1822 the town was attacked by a party of militia and was left deserted as its inhabitants fled to the surrounding mountains. However the militia were attacked by royalist troops when they left Bonastre and routed.

The 19th century parish church is dedicated to St Magdalene. It was built on the site of an ancient Romanesque temple which was completely destroyed on 1849. It consists of a single building covered by a cylindrical vault, with small interconnecting chapels at the side. The baptistry and sanctuary stand out. It was the work of a modernistic architect Josep Maria Jujol
Josep Maria Jujol
Josep Maria Jujol Gibert was a Catalan architect.Jujol's wide field of activity ranged from furniture designs and painting, to architecture. He worked with Antoni Gaudí on many of his most famous works.-Biography:...

. Another notable building is a 19th century house known as “can Fontanilles”. It has some interesting graphics on its façade, which include the arms of Bonastre and Catalonia

The main festival at Bonastre takes place in July under the feast of St Magdalena.

A local road links the village with Roda de Barà
Roda de Barà
Roda de Barà is a municipality in the comarca of the Tarragonès inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast in the east of the comarca...

.

Demography

The village's economic base is agriculture, in the cultivation of vines, almonds and olives.

Note

  1. Bonastre became part of the Baix Penedès in the comarcal revision of 1990: previously it formed part of the Tarragonès
    Tarragonès
    Tarragonès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of the three comarques formed in the 1936 comarcal division of Camp de Tarragona. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, between the comarques of Baix Penedès to the northeast and Baix Camp to the south. Over 60% of the population live in the...

    .

Further reading

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK