| Tàrrega | |||
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| — Municipality — | |||
| Tárrega/Tàrrega | |||
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Tàrrega
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Spain | ||
| Autonomous community | Catalonia | ||
| Province | Lleida | ||
| Comarca | Urgell | ||
| Government | |||
| • Alcalde | Joan Amézaga Solé (PSOE) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 88.00 km2 (34 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 373 m (1,224 ft) | ||
| Population (2009) | |||
| • Total | 16,539 | ||
| • Density | 187.9/km2 (486.8/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 25300 | ||
| Official language(s) | Spanish and Catalan | ||
| Website | www.ajtarrega.es | ||
Tàrrega (Spanish: Tárrega) is a village and municipality located in the Urgell comarca, province of Lleida, Catalonia. According to the 2009 census (INE), the village has a population of 16.539 inhabitants.
Tàrrega is the capital of Urgell in the Ondara River basin. There is a park at Sant Eloi mountain (420 m), with a Romanesque church of the 13th century. The climate is Mediterranean/continental. The medium temperature is of 14 °C, and the average rainfall 451 mm per year (596 mm in 2008[1]). In its theatre fair, held annually each September, Tàrrega welcomes more than 100,000 people.
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The middle of the city is home to the square of Carme, better known as "the Courtyard" (El Pati), which accommodates a statue in homage to the famous classical composer Ramon Carnicer (1789–1855), who was born and lived in the town. Next to the square of Carme, we find the Convent of Carme, owner of a remarkable Renaissance cloister from the 16th century. On the street of Carme, one of the most ancient streets in the city, we find the romanesque Palau of the Marquises and the Floresta, constructed in the 13th century, and further down is the Glassware Mateu, which has a Gothic façade with more than 300 years. The town square accommodates the Town Council of the city, the Parish (of the 17th century), the modernist building of the 19th century]] that lodges the Chamber of Commerce, and the building of the savings bank (1910). The Town Council has a façade of renaissance inspiration, of year 1674.
The main street accommodates the Local Museum (17th and 18th), which still preserves some noble rooms from 18th and 19th century. In the square of Sant Antoni we can find the church with the same name, which dates from the 14th century. Higher up is the castle of the city, which was constructed in charge of Ramon Berenguer in year 1056. In the present, only a few vestiges remain.
Other streets with an emblematic character are: the avenue of Catalonia, at present in works, that has the honor of being the longest street in the city, where are found some interesting buildings, as the modernist building of "Can Sàrries", or the also modernist construction of Enric of Càrcer; Agoders street, also certainly old, that accommodates a remarkable number of outstanding contruccions, many of which date from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries; Santa Anna street, owner of abundant establishments, is a pedestrian street highly frequented by the citizens, since it communicates with the street of Carme, which in turn communicates with the Town Square. The most beautiful building that it accommodates, is the "Sobies' house", a modernist frame, the construction of which was certainly influenced for the Mozarabic architecture; The 20th century street, which received this name in honor of the new century in what was entering, is a narrow notably known street which is precisely located beside the railway station. The "House Maimó", another occasion of modernist architecture, is an emblematic building quite recognized thanks to its curious pinnacle. That building was designed by the great architecht Domènech i Montaner, who also designed the Palau de la Música Catalana. Some other fair known streets or avenues of the city are: Saint Pelegrí street, the outskirts of Carme (at present in works), the avenue of Fàtima, the Sant Agustí street, the Urgell street and the Sant Joan street.
The origins of Tàrrega go back to the 11th century, when the Earl from Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer I, conquered its castle. This event triggered the town's growth. Placed in a strategic crossroad, the mediaeval Tàrrega developed an important economic and territorial role, in spite of the proximity to important towns like Agramunt, Balaguer or Cervera. The town's vitality is apparent when considering the Jewish community, the fairs and markets, the great amount of goldsmiths and artisans, the vitality of the trade, the fraternits, the city council, the headquarters of the deanship, the capitality of the jurisdiction, the abundant privileges, the uses and habits to regulate the municipal administration given by Jaume I in year 1242, and the privilege of making the market on Monday given by Juan II in 1458.
But in return, the crisis of the 14th century, ended with this 'great' stage. The plagues depopulated the town and the construction of the walls supposed important expenses. The society became disorganized and felt insecure because of to feudal violence.
From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Tàrrega became an every time more rural town, rigid, controlled by the rich families and full of fears. The crises were continuous. The most severe were the wars. Those of 1462-72, 1640–52, 1705–14, 1808–12, 1822–23 and the three revolts of Carlists made an immense trouble in the city. In 1520, Charles I allowed the appearance of the imperial eagle in the shield of Tàrrega.
The 18th century was a century of expansion and of great projects, orientated through the Economical Company of Friends of the Country (1777). But the structural difficulties and the impairment of the situation from 1780, prevented this so expected renewal.
Tàrrega, during part of the 19th century, continued being a poor and archaic town, tied to the agriculture fluctuations. It will be from entry second half of 19th century when a series of events will change slowly and progressively the rhythm of the capital of Urgell. The inauguration of the railway line called Manresa-Tàrrega-Lleida (1860), the works of the wall after the flood of Santa Tecla (1874), the joy after achieve the title of city, given by Alfonso XII (1884), the beginning of construction of a series of works of basic and important infrastructure (water, light, telephone, telegraph...) and the local roads development, already in the last decades of the 19th century and early in the 20th century, are some clear symbols of the worries to foster the expansion of the city.
The 20th century was a continuation of the policy, sometimes faster, on certain occasions slower, to convert Tàrrega into a population worthy of the title of city. The foundation and installation of economical and cultural institutions as the Chamber of Commerce (1905), the Savings Bank (1910), the Association of the Friends of the Tree (1913), the Factory J. Trepat (1914–1915), the Choral Society New Tàrrega (1915), the Cultural Association (1919)... kept on changing Tàrrega's social life. It is also necessary to say, that the construction of the hydraulic works of exploitation of the Noguera Pallaresa will built and consolidate the industry and trade of the city.
The second republic and the Catalan autonomy favored the creation of more modern and best cultural and educational infrastructures. Also in this stage, a series of approaches urbanistical and of public services proposed themselves, stopped because of the burst of the civil war.
The economical delay caused by the war and the hardest years of the Franco's dictatorship, did not start to be overcome until the sixties with an economical and industrial burst.
The new democratic era and the new Catalan autonomy, at the end of the seventy years and first of eighty, would be the social and political frame where Tàrrega's society will point, with best conditions, the challenges of the period of the information and the globalization.
The city that starts the 21st century is a population with a clear interis to develop every day more the sector of services, that sees the future construction of the project of the Segarra-Garrigues Canal with hope, and other infrastructures of important look, as the new Hospital, or the polemical prison, that will help Tàrrega to consolidate itself as the second city more mattering of the lands of west.
Tàrrega was the natal city of the poets Alfonso Costafreda and Mossèn Azà.
Manuel de Pedrolo spent his childhood and adolescence in the city. It is considered that Pedrolo created his better known work (Mecanoscrit of the second origin) in the city of Tàrrega, even if explicit references do not appear to the work.
Other notable residents include the famous painters "Pintor Marsà" (Francesc Marsà Figueras) and Anton Tartera, better known as "Antonioti", who died in year 2002. Furthermore, two distinguished musicians resided in the city, the known musician "Mestre Güell" (Josep Güell i Guillaumet) and the famous composer Ramon Carnicer i Batlle.
Current residents include the painter Josep Minguell, whom is finishing the frescoes of the parish, and the footballer Joan Capdevila, who plays in Villarreal CF and is international with the Spanish Selection of Football.
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