Gralla Ruins in Spain

My mom and I along with my mom's sister Ruth and her son Udo, went to Barcelona in 1984.  It seems like forever ago when you subtract the years! 27 years ago!  Yet, Alzheimer's has not set in too badly yet, because I still remember it so well.  I absolutely loved it there.  And here is a picture of the inside of the Gralla estate in Torre Ramona. And the picture below is of the ruins of the old 11th century palace.  It is amazing what history there is in Europe.  In America, history is much more "recent"!

The family that lived in the estate at the time we went was really nice and gave us a grand tour.  I have some wonderful pictures.  She also let me photograph an old family pedigree, which included the Gralla man that went to Polonia, way back when.   Unlike my pedigrees, however, there were no dates on it.  So it makes it hard to figure who is who and when everyone was born.

Grallas in España

Some years ago I came upon the Grallas in the Catalan area of Spain.  Gralla is my mom's side of the family.  They are my Polish side.  However, while doing research we found out all about the Grallas in Spain and even went to the Casa Gralla in Subirats and spoke to the Gralla descendants that were there.  It was a little difficult as my 6 years of Spanish had turned to "rust" but none-the-less the family shared their pedigree chart and pointed out the Gralla who emigrated to Polonia back several hundreds of years ago.  We were escorted to the Palace and the family church by the author of the book about Luis de Requesen.  He was also the proprietor of the Museum in Martorell.  Here are some quotes I translated from his book which is written in Catalan.

Miguel Juan de Gralla


From Lerida ? XV century - died in 1531. Distinguished royal official. Teacher of royal classroom. Delegate of the Generalilat (1491-1494). Royal accountant teacher of Catalunya. (1501-1520). His linage was through the Burgues de Lerida. He gained his riches by practicing mercantilism. Castellan and Feudal Lord of the castle of Subirat. He was at the service of Ana de Bretana until the capitulation of Reunes in 1491. He returned to Cataluna and intervened in name of the King in the municipal reforms and of the Generalilat and he was designated by the king as a delegate.