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Index > The city > Monuments >The castle of GardenyThe Templar castle of Gardeny will reopen its doors to the public from the second half of 2005. In the second half of the 12th century, the Order of the Knights Templar built a monastery complex on the strategic plateau of Gardeny. The hillock had already been used before our period as a base for military operations and had been visited by brilliant strategists, such as Julius Caesar himself, who confronted Afranius and Petreius, two supporters of Pompey who had established themselves in Ilerda in 49 B.C.During the 17th and 18th centuries, the former medieval complex was extended and turned into a new military fort, whose design corresponded to the new defensive needs involved in the introduction of the artillery: walls flanked by bastions and surrounded by vast spaces, moats and retaining walls. The current image of this monumental complex corresponds to the remains of what was an impressive fortress. The Castle of Gardeny in Lleida, together with those of Miravet, Monzón, Peñíscola and to the town of Tortosa, is a part of the Domus Templi Templar route. This journey through the time brings you to discover an important part of the Templar heritage and legacy of the former Crown of Aragon. 
The templar house of Gardeny (12th-14th C.)With the conquest of the town of Lleida, in 1149, the Templars were given various properties in exchange for the help given during the siege, including the Gardeny hill. The first reference to the Command of Gardeny dates back to 1156 and the first commander was brother Pere de Cartellà, who took an active part in the siege of the city.Thanks to numerous contributions made largely by the small nobility, the House of Gardeny succeeded building up great wealth. In order to run the different sectors that had been established, new administrative posts soon had to be created, along with new commands, such as those of Corbins and Barbens. As a result of this growth, the House of Gardeny became, by the 13th century, one of the main Templar decision-making centres in the Crown of Aragon. 
The monumental complex of GardenyThe monumental complex of Gardeny represents one of the most outstanding testimonies of Templar architecture built in Catalonia during the second half of the 12th century. Although between the 17th and 18th centuries considerable changes were made that ended up altering the previous appearance of the medieval complex, many buildings from the autonomous fortress are still preserved today. It is an area bounded by walls and flanked by towers, within which the various buildings would have been grouped around a central courtyard.Among these buildings we should highlight, firstly, the tower-room, a solid two-storey construction that had several rooms: store rooms, living rooms and the keep. Secondly, there is the Romanesque Church of Santa Maria de Gardeny, an unusual building which was the centre of great devotion in the past. 
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