WALLED AREA OF THE VILA VELLA

Mapa


C/ Portal
Tossa de Mar
CP: 17320
Description: Declared a national artistic historical monument in 1931, the walled area of the Vila Vella is the emblem of the town. It is now the only existing example of a fortified medieval town on the Catalan coastline. Built in the late 12th century, almost nothing remains of these times. Today, everything that can be seen comes from different restorations, especially those carried out in the last years of the 14th and 18th centuries. Almost all of the original perimeter is maintained, including the walls decorated with merlons. The exterior wall distributes four solid towers and three cylindrical towers finished off with barbicans. The best known towers are the Torre d'en Jonàs, which presides the bay; the Torre de les Hores, on the entrance to the courtyard of arms, the name of which comes from the fact that it was the only place where there was a public clock, and the Torre d'es Codolar, also known as Torre de l'Homenatge, which overlooks the Es Codolar beach. At the top of the Vila Vella there was once a castle, which consisted of a watchtower and a rectangular floor. The castle no longer exists, as the location was used to build the present lighthouse. The interior of the Vila Vella is a charming space with narrow cobbled streets. It is still possible to enjoy the charm of many beautifully historiated Gothic windows. At the time of maximum splendour (15th century), the Vila Vella had some eighty houses. The majority of the houses used the wall as a rear support. From the 16th century the population began to spread outside the wall. The first buildings were constructed in the neighbourhood of Sa Roqueta and following the main road. Special mention must be made of the hewed door serving as an entrance to the Vila Vella through the courtyard of arms. Inside the Vila Vella, the church of Sant Vicenç is worthy of particular mention. This late Gothic style church was built in the 15th century on the former Romanic church, recently discovered and dating back to the 11th - 12th century. Facing north-south and in a privileged position on a 50 m-high cliff, its original appearance must have been imposing. It has a single nave, a polygonal apse with three walls accompanied by a sacristy and a side chapel in a transept to the west; to the east, the space was probably widened with a line of three chapels. Today only the apse and the sacristy still have their roofs. In the apse, the ogive vault is supported by six ribs that meet at the key decorated with the image of Sant Vicenç. Remains have been found of a staircase at the entrance. On one of the ribs of the left apsidal chapel, we find the capitel dedicated to St John the Baptist.