The history of the rural cottage

The loopholes of Çò de Ròsa keep memories from the XVI century. The discoverer of Alta California and San Diego lived there. He avoided Napoleonic troops going forward when Napoleon was trying to annex this region to France. This rural cottage in Valle de Aran remained the priest's house of Gessa on behalf of the bishoprics of Seu d' Urgell until the Spanish Civil War times. Its stones still keep some memories.

Rural cottage in Valle Aran Çò de Ròsa, Gessa

In short, Çò de Rosà is a rural cottage in Valle Aran that stands for a piece of real history. Looking forward to receive visitors that want to enjoy the charm and magic of the place.

Çò de Rosà is a rural cottage in Valle Aran located in a XVI century wonderful Gothic- Renaissance military building that has been given the category of castle by the Generalitat de Catalunya and has been depicted as a Cultural Good of National Interest.

The military nature of this rural cottage in Valle Aran is shown up when looking at the great defence tower where you can still see the loopholes used by the crossbowmen. This round tower is typical from the defensive rural cottages in Valle Aran. These fortifications were built on the outer edge of the houses to protect them more efficiently.

The architectural style of this rural cottage is mainly Gothic but it has many Renaissance features such as the windows' lintels. On the main entrance of this house's door's lintel reads the date of construction, 1589, thus being the first defensive building of Gessa and one of the first ones of Naut Aran. Some historical credible evidences place it backwards in time.

Firstly, this rural cottage at Valle Aran belonged to the Portolàs d' Arties, the famous discoverer and first governor of Alta California in 1769. He was also the founder of San Diego and Monterrey and later on the governor of Puebla.

This rural cottage in Valle Aran is called Çò de Rosà and is also known as Casa de Andreu Pont or Casa Ròsa, and it is also related to history by a very important episode in Naut Aran. In this rural cottage in Valle Aran, military element in those days, napoleonic troops were stopped but they could manage to annex Val d'Aran to the French province "L'Haute Garonne", from 1810 until it was given back to Spain by the French Royal family in 1815. Therefore, this rural cottage in Valle Aran became the border between Spain and France due to the great defence of the Araneses.

In 1848 this rural cottage was given the name Çò de Rosà because of Ròsa Moga, Francisco Casseny's wife, who paid 60 ounces for the house. In 1877, after some family argument, María Casseny, Francisco's sister, got the house in Valle Aran after paying 60 ounces.

Rural cottage in Valle Aran Çò de Ròsa. Excursionist Centre of Catalunya's Photography archives. Author, Juli Soler i Santaló, 1907

This rural cottage in Valle Aran has a very important cultural heritage and it has been a very important element in the development of Naut Aran

Later, in 1923, this rural cottage then known as Casa Pericot was bought from María Casseny by the vice-chancellor, Mosén Josep Arcalís, on behalf of the bishopric of Seu d'Urgell, he bought it for 4500 pts to use it as the parochial house. It became the parochial house of Gessa until the Civil War. This rural cottage gets back the name Çò de Ròsa (the Rosas' house) in the postwar period. Its popular name, the Torreta (the small tower), became the most outstanding element, though.

In the fifties this rural cottage was rented by the family Net. The house became their main residence. The family bought it in 1987 since the bishopric could not afford to pay for the maintenance and the restorations anymore. So, since 1987 Dr. Net has been doing all these tasks. The house has been totally refurbished but all the patrimonial details has been respected and kept and the damaged items have been substituted by similar ones.

Four centuries later, the stones of this rural cottage are still working as an accommodation for those visitors who come to Gessa to stay in the Balcony House or the Penthouse to relax or to live in a natural environment for a few days at Val d'Aran or to get in touch with the culture of Naut Aran.

Çò de Ròsa, 5 Major Street, Code: 25598, Gessa, Val d' Aran, Lleida, Spain.
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Rural cottage in Valle Aran