Maçanet de Cabrenys

Maçanet de Cabrenys is a municipality in the comarca of Alt Empordà, Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It also belongs to the subcomarca of Alta Garrotxa. It includes the villages of Arnera, Les Creus, Les Mines, Les Salines, Tapis, Els Vilars, and Oliveda. It is situated at the foot of the Eastern Pyrenees, with the Rivers Arnera and Frausa. It has numerous springs, which makes it attractive for tourism, the largest source of revenue, together with dryland farming and animal husbandry. It has a water bottling facility.The center (370 m) is located in a valley between the two highest points of the municipal territory, the Puig de Les Salines (1331 m) and the roc de Frausa (1445 m).HistoryLast century, near the river Arnera there were found neolitical axe, together with the menhir called La Pedra Dreta. Those findings show that the valley of the Arnera was populated from prehistoric periods. The first documented mention of the place appears in the precept of Louis the Pious in 814, in which it says that Céret limits south with villam quae dicitur Macanetum.In 954 count Guifré II of Besalú gave to the monastery of Sant Pere of Camprodon the allodium of Tapis, to build the sanctuary of Les Salines. During the Medium Age it was fortified, and there are still remains of the wall with three covers of the 15th century. In 1440 they added de Cabrenys to Maçanet, because the village happens to belong to the barony of Cabrenys, a line of the lineage of the Rocabertí. In 1553 the black plague annihilates half of the population. In July 1675 lieutenant-general Le Bret, with 1.500 men, plunders the village.