Peracalç
Peracalç
The village of Peracalç stands at 1,203 metres above sea level on the southern slope of the mountain range of the same name, popularly known as “La Geganta”, in the southern part of the municipality of Baix Pallars. It is a place of great natural beauty, ideal for rural tourism, hiking and mountain biking.
The houses adapt to the slope of the mountainside, and today only three houses remain inhabited while many others lie in ruins. However, it was once a fairly populated settlement until the mid-19th century, as it was strategically located along the trade route linking La Pobla de Segur with Pallars Sobirà, avoiding the toll at Collegats. Nevertheless, because of its altitude and harsh living conditions, it was one of the villages that suffered most from depopulation during the 20th century. Peracalç had its own municipality until the mid-19th century, when it was incorporated into the municipality of Montcortès.
The first references we have to Peracalç date from the mid-11th century, when the counts of Pallars, Artau and Llúcia, donated the church of Mare de Déu del Roser to the monastery of Gerri. The monastery’s control over this church did not last long, because by the end of the same century it already appears as property of the Bishopric of Urgell. It later came under the authority of the canonry of Santa Maria de Valldeflors in Tremp, a status it kept until the mid-19th century. Of this old church, located in the middle of the village, only ruins remain. The current parish church is Sant Llorenç, an 18th-century building with a single, fairly wide nave and an apse that does not stand out. Today it is partially collapsed. Peracalç also had a castle, already mentioned in the mid-12th century within the jurisdiction of the count of Pallars, of which no traces remain today.
Within the territory of Peracalç are two of the most outstanding megalithic monuments in the Pallars lands: the dolmens of Cabana de Peralba and Cabana de Castellars d’en Pei.