Casa de la Val is a historical house in

Andorra la Vella Andorra la Vella is the capital and largest city of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of Andorra, Andorran parish that surrounds the capital. , the city had a populati ...

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

. It is former headquarters of the

General Council of Andorra The General Council (, ) is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. It is sometimes referred to as the General Council of the Valleys (Catalan: ''Consell General de les Valls'') because it was the historical name and to distinguish it from sim ...

. It lies just to the southwest of the Andorra National Library. It is a heritage property registered in the Cultural Heritage of Andorra. It was built in 1580 as a manor and tower defense by the Busquets family. In 1702, it was acquired by the Consell de la Terra. The floor of the building is rectangular. The structure has two floors. The ground floor is for the administration of justice with the court room. On the first floor, the main floor of the family home, is the Council Chamber, a chapel dedicated to St. Ermengol and the "closet of the seven keys" which are stored historical documents such as the '' Manual Digest'' and '' Politar Andorrà''. The cabinet has a lock for each of the parishes of Andorra. The second floor housed, until the beginning of the nineties, the Postal Museum of Andorra, which was dismantled to provide meeting space for the Comissió Tripartida, in charge of drafting the Constitution of Andorra in 1993. At the door of the house is the Busquets coat of arms along with the coat of arms of Andorra. A tower in the shape of a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

stands in a corner, and there is a creu de terme (a stone cross on a pillar) which is typical for the region. In the gardens of the building is a contemporary sculpture, designed by Francesc Viladomat'','' called ''La Danse''. Casa de la Vall is depicted on the Andorran

1 euro coin The 1 euro coin (€1) is a euro coin with a value of one euro. It is made of two alloys: the inner part of cupronickel, the outer part of nickel brass. All coins have a common reverse side and country-specific national sides. The coin has been u ...

Restoration

When the property was restored in the 1960s, the chimney of Cal Ribot was used as a model to inform the restoration of the Casa de la Vall chimney. Other changes during the restoration involved removal of the exterior plastering, the addition of a turret, and modifications to the roof.

Literature

*''Diccionari Enciclopèdic d'Andorra'', Àlvar Valls Oliva, Fundació Crèdit Andorrà, Andorra la Vella 2006,

References

{{Coord, 42, 30, 24, N, 1, 31, 14, E, type:landmark_region:AD, display=title Buildings and structures in Andorra la Vella Houses in Andorra Cultural Heritage of Andorra Former seats of national legislatures