Queralbs 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 Ripollès

Ripollès

Ripollès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the Ribes and Camprodon river valleys. , its population is 25,744, about 40% of whom live in the capital, Ripoll....

 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 Pyrenees

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

 to the north of Ribes de Freser

Ribes de Freser

Ribes de Freser is a municipality in the comarca of the Ripollès inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated at the confluence of the Freser, Rigard andSegadell rivers, north of Ripoll. It is known for its mineral water,...

, with the
peaks of Puigmal (2909 m), Infern (2896 m) and Noufonts (2864 m). Tourism and
hydroelectric generation are the bases of the local economy. The shrine of Núria is situated in the
municipality, to the north of the village: it houses a romanesque marial image of la Mare de Déu de Núria.
The shrine is reached by a rack railway

Rack railway

A rack-and-pinion railway is a railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail...

 from Ribes de Freser, which also serves the village. There is also
a local road to Ribes de Freser (7 km, 4 miles), which serves the ski resort

Ski resort

A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...

.

The first historical mention of Queralbs is in the consecration act of the church of the Urgell Diocese in 836

836

Year 836 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim establishes a new capital at Samarra, Iraq.- Europe :...

--thus the town's motto, poble mil·lenari (millennial town)--and its Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 church, dedicated to Saint James

James

James is a common English surname and given name:* James , the typically masculine first name James* James , various people with the last name JamesJames may also refer to:-People:...

, dates to the late tenth century.

Earthquakes

Queralbs is located to the north-west of the active Amer-Brugent fault system. Queralbs was entirely destroyed in the Catalan earthquake of 1428

Catalan earthquake of 1428

The Catalan earthquake of 2 February 1428, known in Catalan as the terratrèmol de la candelera because it took place during the Candlemas, struck the region of Catalonia, especially Roussillon, with an epicentre near Camprodon. The quake was one of a series of related seismic events that shook...

 whose epicentre was in nearby Camprodon

Camprodon

Camprodon is a small city in the comarca of Ripollès in Catalonia, Spain, located in the Pyrenees, near the French border.-History:The settlement of Camprodon was in 1118, when Ramon Berenguer III allowed the building of a market near the monastery of Sant Pere de Camprodon, which is located the...

.

Demography

Trivia

For many years, Queralbs was the vacation home for the former president of the Generalitat

Generalitat

Generalitat is the name of the autonomous systems of government of two of the present Spanish autonomous communities: Catalonia and the Valencian Community. The term is also used for the government of the semi-autonomous comarca of Val d'Aran, the Generalitat a l'Aran.Generalitat refers to all...

, Jordi Pujol i Soley

Jordi Pujol i Soley

Jordi Pujol i Soley is a Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003.-Early life:...

.