The castle of Súria is a castle in the municipality of Súria (Bages), Barcelona province,  CataloniaSpain. It is located at the highest part of a hill that dominates the River Cardener. It is a declared a cultural asset of national interest. At the moment it is adopted as the Center of Interpretation of the Old Town (Centre d’Interpretació del Poble Vell), and visitable.

The origin of the Súria castle, however, dates back to the 10th century. Despite being documented already at the end of the 10th c., the castle does not conserve any remains from before the 12th c.. It protected a territory corresponding to the current territory of Súria. For centuries it has been repeatedly transformed to adapt it to the various functions that it performed.

It was under county control and was part of the Countess Ermessenda, who in 1023 passed it to her son Berenguer Ramon I, along with other castles. We find it documented since 993 as a domain of the Counts of Barcelona. The feudatory was the Cardona family. In 1314 it was incorporated into Cardona. The castle of Súria was linked to the county, and later duchy, of Cardona. Its main function was to protect the way between Manresa and Cardona. It played an important role in the Carlist Wars and was remodeled and consolidated. The structure of the square plan present was then defined. It housed a public school for some time at the beginning of the 20th century. Afterwards it was left abandoned until 1981 when it was subject to restoration by the General Directorate of Architecture and Housing of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Direcció General d’Arquitectura i Habitatge de la Generalitat de Catalunya). This intervention, led by Josep M. Esquius, served to clear the interior, consolidate the walls and cover the building with a glass vault.

From the 12th-13th centuries, the tower of tribute (torre de l’homenatge) (12th century) is preserved, which in later rehabilitation ended up located inside of the building. Originally, the castle of Súria was part of the border line with the Saracens, which passed through Cardener. In the 14th and 15th centuries, after passing into the hands of Cardona, the primitive castle-tower was transformed into a castle-residence. For many years, the fortress of Súria, presided over by the castle, was a strategic point of military interest. The castle dominated during the Middle Ages the so-called Salt Route as it passed through the Cardener River, as well as its production. The castle has been the subject of many reformations and it can be said that nothing dating previous to the 12th century remains.

The castle of Súria has the shape of a large house, from the Romanesque period, but there remains only the tower, enclosed in the most modern wall surfaces, which is only visible from the interior of the fortress. The tower is shaped like a prism, it is divided into two rooms separated by a stone vault, made with slabs arranged in a book folds. The door opens to the east bank, the second floor should be separated by a ceiling support. The tower is covered by a roof.

The cluster is made of stone blocks, with elongated shapes, scattered with hammer and arranged in horizontal lines. The interior conserves vestiges of the three floors of the building and some of the existing dependencies are identified by the remains of delimitations and walls that we find. The castle is accessed by an enclosed door located at a corner of the building. At the top there are vestiges of the battlements that crowned it.

The tower was erected with medium-sized ashlars of different sizes, but with predominance of elongated shapes. They have been staggered with hammer strokes and arranged in horizontal lines. In the space between the two walls that delimit the thickness of the walls there are stones and earth, without any trace of limestone found.

In the mid-20th century, the castle had served as an optical telegraph station that communicated with the stations of Manresa, Cardona, Serrateix and Castelltallat. The great large house (casalici) was used until a relatively recent period for school, dungeon and other municipal services. The castle restoration works, completed in August 1983, were very successful. The demolished walls were repaired with different means in order to avoid confusion.

Shortest distances

From Girona 1 hr 28 min (132 km) via C-25

From Lleida 1 hr 21 min (123 km) via A-2 and C-25

From Tarragona 1 hr 28 min (125 km) via AP-7

From Barcelona 1 hr 7 min (74.1 km) via C-16

From Madrid 6 hr 1 min (585 km) via A-2

From Andorra 1 hr 57 min (122 km) via C-14

From Paris 9 hr 57 min (939 km) via A20

See here Pyrenees travel guide

See here France travel guide

See here Spain travel guide

See here Andorra travel guide

Read more: Castles and fortresses of Spain and France with Mathew Kristes ...