Caldes de Montbui

Caldes de Montbui municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Catalonia
Province :	Barcelona
Comarca :	Vallès Oriental
Coordinates	41 ° 38 ′  N , 2 ° 10 ′  E Coordinates: 41 ° 38 ′  N , 2 ° 10 ′  E
Height :	203  msnm
Area :	37.5 km²
Residents :	17,554 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	468.11 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number  ( INE ):	08033
administration
Official language :	Castilian , Catalan
Mayor :	Jordi Solé i Ferrando
Website :	www.caldesdemontbui.org
Location of the municipality

Caldes de Montbui (Spanish Caldas de Montbui or Caldas de Montbuy ) is a Spanish town and thermal bath in the autonomous region of Catalonia .

location

Caldes de Montbui belongs to the district ( comarca ) Vallès Oriental in the province of Barcelona and is 35 km north of Barcelona. The place has 17,554 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) who live in the city center and in new housing developments. The 38 km² area of ​​Caldes de Montbui extends with the southern part over the Vallès plain reaching to Barcelona and with the northern part up to the foothills of the Montseny Mountains. On one of them is the new housing estate El Farell belonging to Caldes, which lies at an altitude of 805 meters. Caldes is crossed from north to south by a deeply cut stream (Riera de Caldes), which flows around the old town to the west. Two traffic arteries run through the center, the road from Mollet del Vallès (in the northern suburbs of Barcelona) to Centelles and the road from Granollers to Terrassa .

The thermal spring

Due to its location in an area with geological fractures and faults, there are thermal springs in Caldes with a total discharge of 1,000 m³ per day and a temperature of 74 ° C - the highest on the Iberian Peninsula and the second highest in Europe . Caldes also owes its name to the thermal water, which is derived from the Catalan word càlid ('warm').

history

Roman thermal baths in Caldes de Montbui

With the arrival of the Romans during the 2nd century BC One can speak of the direct prehistory of today's Caldes de Montbui. Attracted by the fertility of the soil and the abundance of the thermal springs, the Romans founded the Aquae Calidae settlement here , which soon became a center of health and leisure for the province.

In the late Middle Ages, when Caldes got its current name de Montbui because of its belonging to the territory of the Lords of Montbui ('Ox Mountain'), the place became prosperous through trade and handicrafts and numerous manufactories. The economic decline of Caldes began with the reapers' revolt in the 17th century and the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century. In the second half of the 19th century, Caldes recovered economically thanks to the tourist use of its thermal water. The railway from Mollet to Caldes, inaugurated in 1880, also contributed to the upswing, although it was actually built to get granite for the paving of Barcelona. The operation of the granite quarries and the textile industry laid the basis for the prosperity of Caldes at the beginning of the 20th century. The intensive industrialization of the area around Barcelona, ​​which penetrated into the neighboring municipality of Palau-solità i Plegamans , did not reach Caldes, however, which favored its function as a health resort and as a second home (in new housing developments north of the main town) for families from the greater Barcelona area. Instead of the railway that was closed in 1932, one of the largest bus companies in Catalonia, the Sagalés company, developed in Caldes de Montbui.

economy

Agriculture is becoming less important with the growth of industry and services, although horticulture is still very important. Tourism also plays an important role due to the thermal baths. Of the rich and varied gastronomy, the carquinyolis , a type of biscuit, and the llonganissa , a sausage, are worth mentioning.

Worth seeing

Font del lleó (Lion Fountain)

Santa Maria Church

The urban development of the community began with the use of the thermal baths. The Lion Fountain - Font del lleó - built in 1581, was renovated in 1822 and 1927. This is located on the market square. The water always comes from the well in constant quantities and contains chlorine , fluorine , bromine and iodine . It will u. a. used to heal arthritis and broken bones . On the market square are the Roman thermal baths, the town hall from the 1990s, the spa hotel Broquetes and two connected museums: Casa Delguer and Thermalia , an architecturally interesting Renaissance building, the former Santa Susanna hospital. In addition to explanations on the spa industry, it also contains a collection of works by the Barcelona-born painter and sculptor Manolo Hugué . Through his friendship with Pablo Picasso , the museum also owns paintings, sculptures and ceramics by Picasso.

On the edge of the old town is the Marienkirche, which was built from 1589 to 1714. Your portal is considered to be one of the most beautiful works of art in baroque Catalonia . The Solomonic columns are also very interesting. They come from the French sculptor Pere Ruppin . The church has only one nave and twelve side chapels. The most important work of art in the church is the wooden sculpture Crist Majestat ('The Holy Majesty'). It looks oriental and came to Caldes by gypsies in the middle of the 15th century. Only the original head is still preserved, the rest is a copy because the original was destroyed in 1936. Other sights are two washing places operated with thermal water and the Remei Chapel on the northern outskirts, which goes back to a cult site from pagan times.

Town twinning

• Taunusstein ( Hessen ) since 1989
• Lécaude in the Calvados department ( France )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).

Web links

Commons : Caldes de Montbui  - collection of images, videos and audio files