The National Day of Catalonia
The Catalan National Day or Diada de l'Onze de Setembre is the bank holidays of Catalonia and is commemorated annually.
Tarragona lives the Catalan National Day with the Catalan traditions par excellence: Sardana dances and human towers.
On 11 September 1714, Barcelona fell into the hands of Philip V's troops. In Tarragona and in many Catalan towns and villages, commemorations are held in homage to this struggle.
Throughout the War of the Spanish Succession, Tarragona was the only capital in the territory that did not suffer any formal siege and proved to be a place to garrison troops and obtain resources. From 1708, the English army made Tarragona its main stronghold, establishing a permanent connection with the island of Menorca. Thus, it promoted a fortification process that updated a large part of Tarragona's defences, as well as reforming the port.
Many of the fortifications that can be found today are the result of these turbulent times, such as the Fort of Queen Anna Stuart and the Fort of Sant Jordi, located at the Miracle point, or the Portal de Sant Antoni.
Tarragona was one of the last Catalan cities to resist the Bourbon occupation. It passed into the hands of the new Bourbon authorities on 14 July 1713.
