La Paeria Palace (Town Hall)

The Palace of La Paeria has been the site of the Town Hall of the city of Lleida since 1383. It is one of the most important examples of civil Gothic architecture in Catalonia.

It dates from the 13th century, although it has undergone various subsequent reforms, the most important of which are on both its façades. The façade giving on to the Plaça de la Paeria square is in the neo-mediaeval style and is the work of Ramon Argilés (1927), and the rear façade is in the neoclassical style and is by Agapit Lamarca (1868). The building is arranged around a square central courtyard with galleries formed of semicircular arches on the ground floor, and trifoliate windows –also semicircular– on the main floor, which are repeated on the façade. The altarpiece by Jaume Ferrer (mid-15th century) from the old chapel has been conserved in one of the rooms. In the basement, formed by pointed arches, visitors can see the archaeological remains of a rectangular building dating from Roman times, and of baths from the Andalusí period (9-10th centuries).