Solsona

Solsona grew up around a castle and monastery, known in early records as Selisona or Celsona. King Philip II later granted it the status of city. The town has a literary footnote too: Benito Pérez Galdós set one of his Episodios Nacionales, Un voluntario realista, largely in Solsona, using the Carlist-era War of the Aggrieved as its backdrop.

The cathedral has roots going back to a pre-Romanesque church recorded in 977. A Romanesque church was consecrated in 1070, and surviving from that period are three apses, the bell tower, and elements of the cloister, along with the old cellar and canons' dining room. The current cathedral is Gothic, begun in the late medieval period and completed later. Its main altar is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. In the left transept sits a chapel to the Sacred Heart, and beside it the Chapel of Our Lady of Mercy, whose baroque altarpiece was carved by Catalan sculptor Carles Morató. In the right transept stands the Virgen del Claustro, a Romanesque stone figure and the city's patron saint, considered one of the most important Romanesque sculptures in Cataluña. Her early 20th-century camarín blends Noucentisme with Modernista touches.

The city walls were built and later rebuilt, and remnants survive in several spots — notably three towers on Avinguda Verge del Claustre, now incorporated into residential buildings with windows and terraces cut into the old stonework. Three gateways survive intact: the Portal de Llobera, opened during a plague outbreak to admit only Solsona natives; the Portal del Castillo, through which feudal lords once entered ceremonially; and the Portal del Pont, finished in 1805 in a neoclassical style, which became the main entrance after a twelve-arch stone bridge was built nearby.

The Episcopal Palace was built over the former monastery on the orders of Bishop Rafael Lasala. Its main façade is regarded as one of the finest examples of Catalan Neoclassicism, comparable to the Palau de la Virreina in Barcelona. Inside is the bishop's residence, the diocesan archive, an events hall, and the Museu Diocesà i Comarcal, whose collections span prehistory through to the modern era, with strong holdings in Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque art.

The central Plaça Major is a porticoed square where the main streets of the city converge.

Solsona is roughly 113 km from Lleida-Alguaire airport, 117 km from Barcelona-El Prat, 122 km from Reus, and 151 km from Girona. The nearest train station is Manresa; from there, take the C-55 highway. From Berga or Andorra/La Seu d'Urgell, use the C-26; from Lleida or Segarra, the C-451/C-75 connects via Guissona.

A weekly market runs every Tuesday and Friday on Plaça Major, Plaça del Bisbe, and Plaça de la Catedral; Friday's market is larger and spills into the castle portal area and along the promenade. The Sant Isidre Fair, a traditional livestock and general fair, is held around 15 May.