east of the urban core of the small neighborhood of Palau-surroca, integrated into the municipality of Terrades of which it is a part.
Large architectural ensemble, with several reforms and modifications carried out in modern times, which includes the church of Sant Llorenç.
The original core of the construction is located on the north side of the complex.
It is a fortified house with a rectangular plan, made up of several attached buildings, organized around a square central courtyard.
It has single-sided roofs and is distributed over a ground floor and two floors.
The construction has rectangular openings framed in bricks or others with a lowered arch framed with stone ashlars.
Externally, on the east and west walls of the house, there are traces of walled battlements and several loopholes arranged at different levels.
Inside, the house has rooms covered with barrel vaults and recesses, stone scaffolding and remnants of the original reeds.
The patio is small, with the stone staircase leading to the upper floors and a square stone well.
To access the courtyard from the inside of the house, there is a half-point gabled door and another rectangular one, with the lintel engraved with the date 1641.
The two Gothic windows on the upper floors stand out, rectangular and with trilobed arched lintels, the largest supported by imposts decorated with rosettes, a column and a central decorated capital.
The house is attached to the church of Sant Llorenç, which is located to the north of the complex.
It has a single nave with a semicircular apse facing east.
The vault of the nave is pointed and has a decorative molding at the top of the side walls, while the apse is covered with a quarter-sphere vault.
The triumphal arch is semi-circular and has molded imposts.
At the foot of the nave is the chancel, supported by a ridge vault resting on the walls of the nave.
In the pediment and in the apse there are two single-sash windows.
The access door, located in the south wall of the nave, has a half-pointed arch and leads to the staircase of the inner courtyard of the house.
At the top, on the roof of the church, there is a small belfry with a single semicircular arch.
Next to it, fortifying the upper part of the apse and the regrown walls, there are remains of loopholes and battlements.
The entire interior of the temple is plastered and painted.
Externally, we can see some facings of small ashlars and rough stones, arranged in horizontal rows and bound with abundant lime mortar.
In some parts, you can see slabs arranged in opus spicatum, on the lower half of the walls of the nave and at the base of the apse.
The southern part of the construction has the same structure as the previous one, although of larger dimensions.
It is an elongated enclosure formed by several bodies, organized around a rectangular patio.
This part of the grounds is accessed from the south wing of the house, through a porch opened by two large semi-point stone arcades.
The rest of the buildings that enclose the site are rectangular in plan, with single-sided roofs and distributed over ground floor and first floor, or two floors.
They mostly have rectangular windows framed in bricks and low-arched portals, also made of bricks.
The courtyard can be accessed from a large portal with a lowered arch located on the east facade, dated 1851.
In general, the construction is built of rough and unworked stone, bound with abundant lime mortar, with ashlars at the corners.
Historical news
The Castle of Palau-surroca has its origins in the primitive church of Sant Llorenç which is currently integrated, although its constructive elements are earlier, which suggests that it was initially isolated and that the castle 'he later had it attached.
The temple was probably built during the Romanesque period.
There is a document from the 14th century that qualifies the chapel of the castle as very ancient.
According to Joan Badia, it can be dated to the 10th century and was later fortified by adding walls and towers around the 13th century when Mr. Berenguer Palau was in charge.
It was reformed in the 14th century, as evidenced by the large battlemented battlements.
The different affairs, both military and political or social, in which the castle was involved between the 14th and 16th centuries are unknown.
It is not until the 18th century that an assault, looting and fire on November 17, 1794 at the hands of the French republicans is documented.
In 1855 it was occupied by the Carlins.
It was later used as a farmhouse and is currently used as a second residence.