Argelaguer

Argelaguer is a small village located in La Garrotxa, in the valley of the river Fluvià, in the road connecting Olot and Besalú. This fertile valley has always had human settlements, as the site dating from 900-700 B.C. shows. The first documented reference of the name Argelagorios dates back to 892 and another historical reference mentions the Santa Maria church in 1004. The close relationship with the Montpalau family must also be taken into account. They first lived in the castle and, from the 15th century onwards, in a manor house inside the village, near the parish church. This village had a very important role in the Third Carlist War, since it was precisely on the road connecting Argelaguer and Tortellà where a dramatic battle took place in August 1873, as Marià Vayreda, a Catalan writer, narrates in his novel La Punyalada. The sanctuary of Guilar must be specially noted. It offers a spectacular panorama of the plain crossed by the river Fluvià and on which the village of Argelaguer can be found.