Shortly after leaving Seròs in the direction of La Granja d'Escarp visitors will come across the ancient monastery of Avinganya (El Segrià - Spain). The set of buildings now consists of the church, the cloisters and the residential and farm buildings. Nowadays this is the headquarters of the Avinganya Centre for Archaeology of the Public Foundation of the Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs, which depends on the Diputació de Lleida.Although this cannot be categorically stated, all available indications suggest that in the 11th Century there was an Islamic tower on this site. In the year 1149, when Ramon Berenguer IV re-conquered Lleida and these lands, the site of Avinganya passed into the hands of Pere de Bellvís, who was captured by the Arabs of the Islamic kingdom of Valencia at the end of the 12th Century. When he was released, thanks to the mediation of the order of the Trinitarians, in the year 1201, Pere de Bellvís donated the “tower” of Avinganya to this order.
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