Tower of the Fountain of the Mingo or Tower of the Waters

At the foot of the hill that dominates the southern side of Sant Sadurní, next to the fountain of Mingo, stands this unusual octagonal watchtower that the Sadurninans know as the Torre de les Aigües. It was born in 1874, at the end of the Third Carlin War, when the army's corps of engineers was looking for strategic points to protect the accesses to the town. The project envisaged a structure 11.5 m high and 5 m wide inside, with sandstone walls of one palm thickness that at the base reach up to seven palms - almost 1.7 m - to resist enemy artillery.

The main body, built of uncut stones and tied with lime mortar, is separated from the second level by a powerful cornice that opens into the terrace crowned by sixteen merlets and a small semicircular gatehouse with spittlers. At mid-height, a row of openings also designed for fuselry reinforces the military character. The interior originally consisted of three floors covered by beams and a fourth floor in the open air from which the plain of Penedès and the Camino de Vilafranca were controlled.

The preserved municipal documentation describes in detail the costs of the work — tiles, shingle, shingles and wooden beams — and how, once Carlin pressure had passed, it was agreed to build it on the Formosa mountain range, outside the perimeter of the second wall. The owner ceded the land on the condition that, when the fortification was unnecessary, the estate would be returned to him or the expropriation would be paid.

When the defensive needs faded, the town took advantage of the robustness of the tower to turn it into a water reservoir for the neighboring spring, a function that has earned it the popular name of Torre de les Aigües. For decades the structure suffered abandonment until, already in the 21st century, the City Council and the Mina i Aigües La Salut Community promoted its integral restoration (2008). The project, signed by the architects Ozcáriz-Lindström, consolidated the walls, rebuilt the walls, restored the merlets, opened new vaults and equipped the building with metal stairs to tell the story in pedagogical visits, although the interior access is not currently open on a regular basis.

Today the tower is the last visible testimony of the second wall line of Sant Sadurní and a key piece in understanding the anguish and organizational capacity of the neighbors in times of war. Architecturally, the unprecedented commitment to the Penedès for the octagonal plan —the rest of the Pug forts were circular—, the mixture of military technology and materials of the country and the subsequent symbiosis with the water supply that has guaranteed its survival. At night, a discreet lighting highlights the silhouette crowned with merlets and turns the old fort into a heritage lighthouse visible from much of the town.

Open to visitors: No
Accessible: No
More information: Link 1