Terrassa is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona, comarca of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the cocapital along with Sabadell. The name “Terrassa” may well be a contraction/corruption of late Latin: ‘terra ix ipsa’ -> proto-aragonese ‘terra-iš-sa’ (Eng: ‘that avian/’cool’ place’) potentially conflated with ‘terra-ès-sà’ “safe-place/clean-place”.
It is the site of Roman Egara, a former Visigothic bishopric, which became a Latin Catholic titular see. Since 2004, it is again the see of a bishopric.
The city is located in the Catalan Prelitoral depression (Depressió Prelitoral), at the feet of the Prelitoral mountain range (Natural reserve of Sant Llorenç del Munt) and the average altitude of the city is 277 meters above sea level. It is 20 and 18 kilometres from Barcelona and Montserrat respectively.
Terrassa is the third largest city in Catalonia, after Barcelona and L’Hospitalet.
Notable sites
The churches of Sant Pere (Saint Peter)
These three churches were built close to the site of old Ègara to be the seat of the Ègara Diocese, which was founded around 450 CE and remained in existence until the 8th century. This episcopal complex follows the Byzantine model of antiquity, with two churches (Sant Pere and Santa Maria) and a mausoleum (Sant Miquel). After a long period of construction, the churches were finished in the then-current manner about the 11th and 12th centuries and in Romanesque style, on the site of the pre-Romanesque buildings of the Visigothic period. The church of Santa Maria contains outstanding works of art, and there are murals dating from the Romanesque period to the Gothic. There is also an altar stone dating from the 10th century and medieval and Romanesque tombstones (one of which documents the name of the Roman town of Egara). In the transept there are three Gothic altarpieces.
- Santa Maria (Saint Mary) the old Cathedral
- Apse from the 6th century
- Nave from the 11th century with exterior Lombardy-style decorations
- Romanesque frescoes of Saint Thomas Becket from the 12th century
- Frescoes from the 13th century
- Sant Pere (Saint Peter)
- Transept and apse from 9th to 10th centuries
- Nave from the 12th century
- Mosaic from the 10th century (geometric designs)
- Stone altarpiece of Sant Pere from the 10th century
- Gothic frescoes from the 13th century
- Sant Miquel (Saint Michael)
- The Greek cross plan and the walls are the originals from the 6th century
- Frescoes from the 7th and 8th centuries in the apse
- Other items
- Altarpiece of Sant Pere (1411) by Lluís Borrassà
- Altarpiece of Roser (1587)
- Altarpiece of Sant Ruf (17th century)
- Altarpiece of Sant Miquel (1450–51) by Jaume Cirera and Guillem Talarn
- Gothic altarpiece of Sant Abdó i Sant Senén (1460) by Jaume Huguet
- Polychrome sculpture of Saint Mary from the 14th century
Other
The city is heir to a rich medieval, Modernista and industrial legacy, and possesses an extensive network of libraries, historical archives and museums.
- The museum of Terrassa, municipally-owned, has various sections:
- Castle/Charterhouse of Vallparadís, in the Park of Vallparadís
- Visigothic-Romanesque churches of Sant Pere (Saint Peter)
- Casa Alegre de Sagrera, Modernista house in Carrer Font Vella
- Tower of the Palau, the only vestige of the castle-palace of the count-kings of Catalonia in Terrassa
- Center of medieval interpretation of the city of Terrassa
- Convent of Sant Francesc, cloister decorated with polychromed ceramics (1671–1673)
- Museum of Science and Industry of Catalonia, in the former Aymerich Amat i Jover mill, managed by the Generalitat de Catalunya
Municipal Government
The Municipal Council has 27 seats and according to the result of the local elections of May 2019 is formed by:Romanesque monastery at the top of la Mola (1107 m), the highest point of the natural reserve of Sant Llorenç del Munt i Serra de l’Obac
- All for Terrassa (Tot per Terrassa, TxT) – 10 seats (29.28%)
- Socialists’ Party of Catalonia (Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC) – 7 seats (20.55%)
- Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC) – 5 seats (14.93%)
- Citizens (Ciutadans, Cs) – 3 seats (8.11%)
- Together for Catalonia (Junts per Catalunya, JxCAT) – 2 seats (7.56%)
The municipal government is formed by a coalition of Tot per Terrassa and ERC.[6] The Mayor is Jordi Ballart (TxT).
