Mirmanda, illustrated by Anna Ribot-Urbita for the 2017 calendar of Catalan mythology.
The most famous mythical city in the Catalan legends is Mirmanda. This is believed to be one of the oldest cities in the world, which was built by giants and inhabited by encantades (women from Catalan mythology who live in fresh water and live for hundreds of years).
The saying is that “when Barcelona was a meadow, Mirmanda was already a city” (“Quan Barcelona era un prat, ja Mirmanda era ciutat”). The ancient city of the encantades was located next to the small canyon of the Cantarana river near the town of Terrats, in Northern Catalonia. Back then, the river’s water flowed with gold and silver.
But the city was destroyed by a flood or a tsunami of water arriving from the sea. Since then, Mirmanda is invisible to human eyes, only the encantades and the few farmers who have gained the encantades’ trust are able to see it.
Les Orgues d’Illa, Northern Catalonia. Photos from rutesdelmon.com and Ajuntament d’Illa.
It’s believed that the legends of this ancient city might have originated in the presence of prehistorical megalithic dolmens and menhirs found around the area, as well as the clay cliffs that in the Catalan language are called “xemeneies de les fades” (“fairies’ chimneys”).
