Balaguer

Balaguer
Balaguer
Municipality
	Church of St. Mary.
	Flag Coat of arms
	Balaguer Location in Spain Balaguer Balaguer (Catalonia) Balaguer Balaguer (Spain)
	Coordinates: 41°47′24″N 0°48′18″E / 41.790°N 0.805°E
Country	Spain
Community	Catalonia
Province	Lleida
Comarca	La Noguera
Government
• Mayor	Jordi Ignasi Vidal Giné (2015)
Area
• Total	57.3 km2 (22.1 sq mi)
Elevation	233 m (764 ft)
Population (2018)
• Total	16,841
• Density	290/km2 (760/sq mi)
Demonyms	Balaguerí, balaguerina
Climate	Cfa
Website	www.balaguer.cat

Balaguer (Catalan pronunciation: [bələˈɣe]) is the capital of the comarca of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebre. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city in the western United States, Pacifica, California.

Balaguer was conquered from the Moors by Ermengol VI of Urgell in 1106; he made it his new capital, and it remained so for subsequent counts of Urgell.

The town has a Gothic bridge, the "Pont de Sant Miquel", over the Segre river. This bridge was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War in the battle of "Cap de Pont" (bridgehead battle in 1938) and rebuilt after the war.

Another Gothic building is the Santa Maria Church, in the heights above the city, in line with a quite finely conserved wall dating to the 15th century AD.

The historic town is on the right bank of the Segre but, following the Spanish Civil War, construction began on a modern bridge, which initiated development of a modern extension of the town on the left bank.

General Franco's forces first entered Catalonia from Aragon in 1938 through Balaguer's bridgehead.

Notable natives

Josep Ivan Argelaga, performance artists "dogman"^[4]
Gaspar de Portolà, founder of San Diego (United States) and Monterey (United States).
Peter IV of Aragon, King of the Crown of Aragon.
Antoni Torres García, footballer
Xavier Sánchez Bernat, basketball player
Roberto Martínez, former footballer and football manager of the Belgium national football team
Teresa Pàmies, writer, political activist and mother of Sergi Pàmies.
Felipe Cardeña, artist

References

^ "Ajuntament de Balaguer". Generalitat of Catalonia. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
^ "El municipi en xifres: Balaguer". Statistical Institute of Catalonia. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
^ "Naked Josep Ivan Argelaga Is Pretending To Be A Dog All In The Name Of Art".

Palomero, Aaron Gutiérrez, "Planificación urbana y vivienda obrera en Balaguer (1939 – 1962). Ocupación del margen izquierdo" Scripta Nova: Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, Vol. VII, núm. 146(025), 1 de agosto de 2003. (in Spanish)