Baltarga (or Valltarga) is a village in the municipality of
Bellver de Cerdanya
; ) is a town in the comarca of Cerdanya, province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of .
Integrated villages and hamlets
*Baltarga, 38 inhabitants
*Beders, 14 inhabitants
*Bellver de Cerdanya, 1.314 inhabitants
*Bor (Bellver de Cer ...
located at above sea level on the southern slope of a
ridge
A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...
of the same name, the Serrat de Baltarga. As of 2009 it had a population of 56.
[Baltarga]
''Gran enciclopèdia catalana'' (retrieved 22 November 2017).
In the early
history of Catalonia
The recorded history of the lands of what today is known as Catalonia begins with the development of the Iberians, Iberian peoples while several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was the first area of His ...
, Baltarga was the site of two important battles. Sometime between 939 and 943, Ermengol, the eldest son of
Sunyer, Count of Barcelona
Sunyer ( 870 – 950) was count of Barcelona, Girona and Ausona from 911 to 947.
Origins
He was the son of Wilfred the Hairy and younger brother of the previous count of Barcelona, Wilfred II Borrel. He worked jointly with his brother in th ...
, "died in battle at Baltarga, childless" (''apud Baltargam bello interfectus sine filio''). It has been proposed that this battle was fought against
raiding Magyars in 942. Then, in 1035, Count
Berenguer Ramon I of Barcelona "died in battle at Baltarga in Cerdanya" (''obiit in bello apud Baltargam locum Ceritaniae''). The source for both battles is the 12th-century ''
Gesta comitum Barchinonensium
The ("Deeds of the counts of Barcelona") is a Latin chronicle composed in three stages by some monks of Santa Maria de Ripoll and recounting the reigns of the Counts of Barcelona from Wifred I (878–97) to James II (1291–1327), as late as 1 ...
''.
Church
The parish church is
Sant Andreu de Baltarga, originally built in 890. The church possesses a round
apse
In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
.
[ A painted wood ]altar frontal
An ''antependium'' (from Latin ''ante-'' and ''pendēre'', "to hang before"; : ''antependia''), also known as a pulpit fall, parament or hanging, or, when speaking specifically of the hanging for the altar, an altar frontal (Latin: ''pallium al ...
is preserved in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, th ...
, while some ceiling fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es from the arches leading to the apse have been moved to the Museu Diocesà d'Urgell.
File:SANT_ANDREU_DE_BALTARGA..JPG, Exterior
File:(Barcelona) Frontal d'altar de Baltarga - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.jpg, Painted wood altar frontal
File:Fresco_de_Baltarga2.jpg, Ceiling frescoes
References
{{coord, 42.36338, 1.8078, region:ES-CT_type:city, format=dms, display=title
Populated places in the Province of Lleida