Cruïlles and the monastery of Sant Miquel

Cruïlles is formed by the historical nucleus and the neighbourhood of Sant Miquel de Cruïlles. Formerly fortified, it is placed on a hill, where the old homage tower and the bell tower of the parochial church of Santa Eulàlia can be seen from the distance, they are few meters one from the other. 

In other parts of the town rest of wall and two squared towers of the old defensive system can be found. The shield of the barony of Cruïlles is represented by seven crosses, which will be added to the shield of the barony of Peratallada in 1250 when Gilabert de Cruïlles dies without succession and his sister Guillema marries Ponç de Peratallada, they move to the castle of Peratallada becoming the centre of their barony, the limits from which arrived from the sea (castle of Begur) to Calonge and counted with possessions in Llagostera and other points in Catalonia.

In the neighbourhood of Sant Miquel de Cruïlles there is still one of the most important buildings of Catalan Romanesque architecture; the monastery of Sant Miquel, from the 11th C. Benedictine priory that existed from 904, and which decay began in the 14th C. when only five monks lived there. The church of the monastery was initially being built with a single nave and a transept. During its construction the original idea was modified becoming a temple of three naves. The lateral naves disappeared in 1326 becoming inner chapels. There are no remains of the cloister, only some arches that were part of the monastery halls and the house of the prior that is believed to be now a farm house situated few meters from the church.

The remains of paintings inside the building date from the 12th C. and represent two rows of lions, one of the few representations that have arrived to the present time.

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