Walled Enclosure

Construction
14th century.

Architectural features
It has a perimeter of 1,500 metres, with some thirty towers. It is made with stone, mortar and mud wall in some places. But, the corners of the towers are made with blocks of stone. The enclosure consists of four sections and in ancient times there were only four gateways situated according to the cardinal points: the gateway of Sant Antoni, the gateway of Sant Francesc, the tower-gateway of Sant Jordi and the tower-gateway of Bové. The towers have a rectangular base, and have three sides covered, remaining the interior uncovered. Exceptionally there is one with a pentagonal base, the tower of Els Cinc Cantons. As a defensive method they used the loopholes, the raising doors placed between the battlements and in some cases they also used the fawns.

History
It was constructed following the process of fortifications of the most important towns ordered by the king Pere III the Ceremonious because of the war against the Castilian king Pedro the Cruel. The people in Montblanc and the towns around took part in its construction. Because of the numerous warlike disputes in the town from the 15th to the 18th century, the enclosure lost its defensive character and the town authorities decided to rent the towers and the moats to pasture the animals. The construction of buildings using the wall left the enclosure in very bad conditions. In 1971 it began the restoration.