A Thousand Years Standing Upright

At the beginning, the fortress was part of the area surrounded by defensive walls that extended over the hill where the town is located. According to the historians, it was a singular circular tower with two floors; the lower floor, a stable, and the upper floor, for security reasons, the lodgings.

HISTORY

1. During the XIV century, the war against Castilla started and the invasion of the French mercenaries occurred. The castle then had to be reconstructed.
2. Two centuries later, in the XVI century, a process of expansion and renovation started form the tower of the old defensive wall. During the second half of the XVII century, another war, the famous Guerra dels Segadors, damaged again the fortress, and once again it had to be reconstructed.
3. Next to the castle, the church started to be constructed at the end of the XVII century, but the works were stopped until the current Lords of Montsonís, the Barons of Albi, gave to the group of buildings its present-day aspect.
4. The Barons of Albi have been present in many of the most important events of the national history of Catalonia. Acard de Mur, and a member of his family, brought from Greece the famous 'aceituna aberquina' (aberquina olive); a brother of Acard de Mur baptised the king Ferran the Catholic, an between the descendants of the Barony of Albi we find, also, commanders of the army of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) in the Civil War, or ambassadors to Madrid of the Catalan Government during the War of Succesion.