Terrassa, with about 233,000 inhabitants, is Catalonia's third city by population and, with Sabadell, joint capital of the Vallès Occidental, about 30 km from Barcelona. In the 19th century it was one of the great centres of the wool textile industry, and it keeps an extraordinary industrial modernista heritage. It is also a world capital of field hockey.
History
It was Roman Egara, a bishopric between the 5th and 8th centuries. In the Middle Ages it grew around its castle and charterhouse. From the 19th century wool factories, the vapors, turned it into an industrial city drawing workers from all over Spain.
What to see
- The churches of Sant Pere, Santa Maria and Sant Miquel, the former episcopal seat of Egara: a unique complex with parts from the 5th to the 12th century, mosaics, Romanesque murals and a baptistery, among Europe's most important pre-Romanesque monuments.
- The Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC), in the Vapor Aymerich, Amat i Jover, a large modernista textile mill with vaulted roofs by Lluís Muncunill.
- Masia Freixa, a white modernista building with undulating arches, in Sant Jordi park.
- The castle-charterhouse of Vallparadís, with the city museum, and Vallparadís park.
- The modernista Casa Alegre de Sagrera and Mercat de la Independència.
- The Seu d'Ègara and the old town with its Rambla.
Nature
Sant Llorenç del Munt i l'Obac natural park, with conglomerate rock formations, trails and a Romanesque monastery on the summit of La Mola, at about 1,100 metres, is a few kilometres from the city.
Festivals and food
The Festa Major, in late June and early July, with castells, devils and giants, and the Fira Modernista, in May, with thousands in period costume. The Terrassa Jazz Festival, in spring, is one of Spain's oldest. Food: cured meats, botifarra and Catalan dishes.
Getting there
Terrassa is linked to Barcelona by Rodalies trains and the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat, in about thirty to forty minutes. Barcelona airport is about 40 km away.