Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí
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How it came to be
The Vall de Boí is a narrow valley in the Catalan Pyrenees about 120 km north of Lleida. Each of its villages has a Romanesque church, built in Lombard style in the 11th and 12th centuries under the patronage of the lords of Erill. The churches of Boí date from around 1100 and those of Taüll from 1123.
The 12th century was the golden age of fresco painting in Catalonia, and the Christ in Majesty in the apse of Sant Climent de Taüll is regarded as a masterpiece of European Romanesque painting. From 1904 Catalan societies sent expeditions to record the churches, and their paintings became widely known.
In the early 20th century dealers bought Pyrenean murals, and many went to museums and collectors in the United States. The people of Taüll refused to let theirs leave, and the paintings were moved to the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona, with reproductions put in their place. The nine churches were inscribed in 2000.
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