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At the beginning of the 11th century, the Catalan counties grouped together to defend themselves against Saracen attacks, especially after the important sack of Barcelona. In this way, creating defensive lines of castles to consolidate their positions. One of them was made up of the castles of Barberà, Santa Perpètua, Palau and Sentmenat.
The latter has reached our days still with a majestic appearance, in the Vallès Occidental. Sentmenat Castle is a fortress declared a cultural asset of national interest, which was built in a strategic enclave.
The façade, facing west, is on the edge of the ravine that forms the Sentmenat creek. It is located northwest of the parish church of the village of Sentmenat.
As detailed by the Sentmenat City Council, “who began to build the castle, around the year 1030, was the knight Miró de Hostoles, who acquired the land in the year 1013.
He and his son Ramón I built this defensive fortress. Later, in the 12th century, the castle passed into the hands of the Montcada family through a marriage. In that historical moment, moreover, it is “when the first Castilian, Pedro I, who is the origin of the Sentmenat, enters”. He accompanied “Guillem Ramon de Montcada in the conquests of Tortosa in 1148 and Lleida in 1149”.
On February 2, 1428 there was a strong earthquake in Catalonia, with its epicenter in Camprodon and which affected a large part of the Principality. The castle was badly damaged, as was almost the entire Romanesque church from the 9th century, part of which was found in archaeological surveys in 2009.
The baron, Berenguer II, after the earthquake, carried out important works in the castle, first he covered the vaults with beams, raised the north wing and opened the Gothic windows,
Already more advanced in time, at the end of the 17th century, specifically in 1691, Juan IV de Sentmenat received the title of marquis from King Carlos II and that is when the last extensions were made with the Renaissance building on the main façade.
The Marquises of Sentmenat resided in Barcelona and only came to the castle sporadically, converting it from the mid-15th century to the beginning of the 21st century, in a large agricultural exploitation.
The last marquis of Sentmenat by direct line was Joaquín III de Sentmenat who died in 1968. The marquisate and the Sentmenat city council “reached an agreement whereby the latter ceded ownership of the castle to the town in exchange for the reclassification of some agricultural land to developable”. In 2008 the consolidation works of the castle and the restoration of all its facades began.
