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Castell del Patriarca

Tarragona, Italy

Castell del Patriarca

The Castell del Patriarca (English for: Patriarch's castle) was a castle that was in the city of Tarragona, Catalonia (Spain). Located from the street Mercería covered up much of the streets of Cocas, de San Lorenzo and the Nueva del Patriarca descent. Its construction was begun in the 12th century

by Archbishop Bernat Tort, who built up the height of the second floor, and was completed by the Archbishop Bernat de Olivella in the 13th century. The result was a manor fortress in which lived all the prelates of the Tarraconense headquarter until the early 19th century, when Archbishop Romuald Mon moved to the new palace during his prelature. Here was prisoner the French king Francis I in the 16th century. Later, during the period of the Peninsular War, and due to the large increase in troops, the Castle del Patriarca (and also the Castle de Pilat) was intended to serve as accommodation for the Napoleonic French troops. Possibly it was the circumstance that led to it was dynamited on 19 August 1813 to evacuate the city the Frenchs. Historians tell that the French general Bartoletti put so much interest in disappear it, in the words of the Canon Huyà, the detonations of the mines made so...

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