RENOVATION OF THE PALACE-CASTLE OF RUPIÀ

The Palau-Castell de Rupià, owned by the municipality, has undergone considerable alterations and for this reason the City Council has decided that through the project in the hands of Fortià Arquitectes, the ground floor will be turned into a bar-café.

  • Commenced in:
    • September 2006
  • Finalised in:
    • June 2007
  • Project editor:
    • Josep Maria Fortià, architect (Baix Empordà County Council)
  • Project manager:
    • Josep Maria Fortià
  • Works supervisor:
    • Jordi Hereu, quantity surveyor
  • Contrator:
    • Construccions Eduard Ribot
  • Promoter:
    • Town Council of Rupià

The existing building of the castle of Rupià, which was once an Episcopal palace, was built between the centuries XIV and XV. Now property of the town, the building has undergone considerable alterations. The latest renovation works were in 1984. The building was declared a Cultural Asset of National Interest (BCIN) in 1949 and therefore a monument of cultural heritage.

The old castle-palace of Rupià is an extensive rectangular building, with facades in the Ample Street and in the Plaça d’Avall square. The original building comprises a ground floor and a first floor and it is covered with a tiled gable roof, with its edge parallel to the main facade.

The renovation was carried out because the Town Council of Rupià wished to move the municipal offices from the ground and first floor to the main floor of the building; and at the same time adapt the ground floor as a Bar-Café and a medical clinic in the annexed building. The procedural criteria for the historic building can be summarised in three main lines: threading and joining different points of the building, new materials and construction operations and an intervention which follows the existing conceptual characteristics of the building, and consequently link the new materials and construction solutions with the existing architectural type.