The tower of the Abbot

If humans live over centuries at one place, reproduce themselves and die, these ancient places accumulate memories that endure.  Indeed, historical places, even ruins, often register more visitors than modern luxurious places.  In Llançà, there is a place at which one seems to feel the souls of the ancestors: The Plaza Mayor.

  The oldest building at the "Plaza" is the "Torre del Abbat", the tower of the abbot.  Built In the XIII or XIV century, it continues to dominate the heart of the village.  Originally the tower was not freestanding, separated and lonely, it was the bell tower of the Romanic church St. Vicenç de Llançà.  At the tower, one can discover traces of the former church shape over the entrance door.  The tower was a bell tower and, in addition, an alarm tower to warn the inhabitants of the village if enemies were approaching.  Enemies often came by both land and by sea.

  By the XVIII century, the St. Vicenç church needed to be replaced.  Stones from the ancient church were used to build the new church (also called St. Vicenç), which was also located on the Plaza Mayor.  The new St. Vicenç church is generally a gothic building with a front between Renaissance and baroque.

The new church was built on the foundations of the garden of the abbey, in which once the vassals of the abbots of St. Pere de Rodes resided.  One of the small roads around the church is still called "Carrer del Castel" – the road of the castle.

The choice of building on existing foundations explains the unusually high situation of today's church.  Numerous stairs were thus necessary to enter the church.  Similarly, the cemetery moved from the old church and settled around the new one.  Later, the cemetery was relocated to the port.  One can still discover other evidence of medieval times around the church and in the village; for example, there is still an old city portal. 

  For almost a century, the new church existed without its own bell tower.  A shortage of money to complete the new church forced the inhabitants to retain the ancient bell tower to announce the holy mass.  This surely saved our tower’s life – so, we can see, a shortage of money sometimes is a good thing.  If they had the money to complete the church, on time, we would now have a Plaza Mayor without its tower.

The tower of the abbot does not only have outward charm, a visit to climb inside the tower is also worthwhile.  From the top, there is a view of the village, countryside and port.  And, inside, there is an exhibition of postcards and photos from past times, showing Llançà before the tourist boom, with its natural port and only few huts.  The Llançà in the photos has dusty roads, but with maintained fields and gardens.   The fishing boats rested close to the beach, the hills were without houses and covered by vineyards.  This is how Llançà looked, until not very long ago.

  back to CapCreus online

CapCreus online, newspaper of the Northern Costa Brava: www.cbrava.com