Convent de Sant Domènec de Balaguer

Title: Convent de Balaguer: Gothic cloisters and a history of occupants Teaser: Discover the Gothic church and cloisters of the Convent de Balaguer, with a history of occupants from Dominican friars to Jesuits and Franciscans.

The Convent de Balaguer is an ancient religious complex located outside the city of Balaguer, on the left bank of the Segre river. The church, built in the Gothic style, follows the typical layout of a single-nave building with lateral chapels between buttresses, resulting in a spacious interior. The church is capped by a seven-sided apse with windows in the central three tracts, and its roof is made of wood and arched. The church was shortened due to destruction, leading to the construction of a new facade in 1716.

However, the most notable feature of the convent is its magnificent Gothic cloister, probably built between 1333 and 1350 and similar to the one at Sant Francesc in Mallorca. The cloister features four galleries with slender columns supporting pointed arches with a trilobulated key, with the arches also trilobulated like a claraboia trilobulada. The Convent de Balaguer was founded in the 14th century by Ermengol X of Urgell, who set aside a large sum of money for the construction of the church.

Although construction may not have begun until 1323, the Dominican friars moved in at that time and remained in the convent until the exclaustration of 1835. After being converted into a hospital, the Jesuits occupied the building from 1862 to 1868. The Franciscans purchased the building in 1881 and have occupied it ever since.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons