The Renaissance of the Almatà Plan: Balaguer rediscovers his Andalusian origins

Balaguer is preparing the comprehensive restoration of the Pla de Altamá archaeological site, the space where the city was born more than a thousand years ago. The project aims to rehabilitate and promote this exceptional site, considered the largest Andalusian-era site in Catalonia and one of the main sites of al-Andalus.

The Altamá Plan Renaissance project, implemented by the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Balaguer Paeria, aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the remains of the ancient city and is scheduled to run until 2027. The archaeological work, led by the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Museum of the No, includes houses, industrial areas, collective spaces, and cemeteries.

The initiative includes a renaturalization of the 27-hectare site, conservation and restoration work on the wall, bringing the old urban structure to light, and the construction of a visitor center to house the immersive project Els Ojos de la Historia. This project aims to place it at the center of the historical and identity narrative of the capital of La Noguera.

The origins of the city

To understand the importance of this space, it is necessary to go back to the 8th century. Located on a plateau bathed by the Segre River, the Pla d'Almatà was the location chosen by the first Muslim settlers from Arabia and North Africa who, beginning in 711, entered the Iberian Peninsula. Following natural routes, they reached the Noguera area and found in this location a strategic point for controlling the border territory with the Catalan counties. From that first settlement, Medina Balagî was born, the embryo of today's Balaguer.

From the 9th century onwards, the Pla d'Almatà developed into a prosperous, planned medina, surrounded by an imposing wall of which some 700 meters still stand. Its sandstone foundations and rammed earth locks preserve the outline of the 27 towers that protected the city. Within the walls, an orderly network of streets housed residential areas, craft workshops, markets, mosques, and cemeteries.

The Balagî Medina combined all the elements that defined an Islamic city: the main mosque, the market, and the alcázar, or governor's residence, as well as public baths and alfóndices, a kind of hostel for merchants and animals. The medina was, in short, a prosperous, diverse, and open city, where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived side by side.

Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the Pla de Almatà was overcrowded. Since it no longer had room to expand, the Andalusian city began to grow towards the lower part, where the historic center is today.

From conquest to oblivion

The conquest of Balaguer by the Count of Urgell in 1105 marked the end of the Andalusian city. The urban core was left in ruins and the Muslim population was expelled. To repopulate the area, lands and privileges were granted to Christian families. Municipal governing bodies were also created and concessions for markets and fairs were granted.

The new inhabitants settled in the lower part of the city, and the Pla d'Almatà was definitively abandoned. Only archaeological excavations begun in the 20th century began to recover the memory of a city that had been an economic and cultural engine of northern al-Andalus.

A living space

Now, more than nine hundred years later, the Almatà Plan Renaissance project aims to reverse this neglect. The initiative envisions a comprehensive restoration of the site, with archaeological work, the museumization of the spaces, and the creation of a visitor itinerary that connects the plan with the historic center.

The project aims to make the Almatà Plan a heritage and educational landmark, with educational activities, guided tours, and digital resources that provide an understanding of what that city was like a thousand years ago. It also aims to promote archaeological research and create an interpretation center that explains the historical importance of the site in an accessible way.