Valls

Valls municipality
	The town hall of Valls
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Catalonia
Province :	Tarragona
Comarca :	Old camp
Coordinates	41 ° 17 ′ N , 1 ° 15 ′ E Coordinates: 41 ° 17 ′ N , 1 ° 15 ′ E
Height :	215 msnm
Area :	55 km²
Residents :	24,359 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	442.89 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number ( INE ):	43161
administration
Official language :	Castilian , Catalan
Mayor :	Albert Batet ( CiU )
Website :	www.valls.cat
Location of the municipality

Valls is a Catalan city in the province of Tarragona in northeastern Spain . It is the capital of the Comarca Alt Camp .

Geographical location

The city is located about 20 kilometers northwest of Tarragona and about 80 km west of Barcelona on the Francolí River at an altitude of about 215 meters.

Sub-locations

Fontscaldes (~ 150 inhabitants) - Masmolets (~ 50 E.) - Picamoixons (~ 500 E.) - Valls (~ 23,000 E.)

history

Valls was mentioned as early as the 11th century, but the history has only been documented in the archives since the beginning of the 12th century. At first the settlement grew around the church and later in the direction of the castle built by Archbishop Oleguer in 1130. The rule was shared by the king and the archbishop of Tarragona. From the beginning the place was a member of the "comuna del Camp", a kind of community of interests of localities of the Camp de Tarragona , which existed until 1715. As early as 1210, Pere I of Catalonia (King Peter II of Aragon) founded the weekly market on Wednesday, which still exists today.

Eleanor of Aragon, mistress of Valls

After the assassination of Peter I of Cyprus , his widow, Eleanor of Aragon , a cousin of Count Pere III, returned. of Catalonia and King of Aragon returned to Catalonia in 1382. The king gave her the rights to his share in the city.

The archbishop's palace that Eleanor had moved into was then transformed into a ruler's court with numerous servants and favorites. In particular, the Majordomo Bonanato and the Count of Prades, Eleanor's brother, who often stayed in the city, were a nuisance for the population. Even the unsuccessful refusal of the favorites to pay the taxes due in Valls on the import of wine led to a revolt of the population with deaths on both sides.

After the king's death, his son and successor, Joan I , sold his rights to the archbishop in 1391, who became the sole lord. The arguments between the population and the ex-mistress continued. Because of an insult to the citizens, they penetrated the palace again and killed Bonanato in front of Eleanor's eyes. Horrified, she fled to her brother's territory, to Gratallops near Falset. She never went back to town.

Joan II used the city as a base in 1464 in his fight against the Generalitat .

Valls in the War of the Spanish Succession

Valls, 1896

In the War of the Spanish Succession , Valls sided with the Habsburg Charles VI. , as Charles III. designated King of Spain. In 1709, Valls was awarded the title of Imperial City in recognition of his loyalty . But when his allies left him, Karl had to renounce the Spanish crown. In order to protect the city's trade routes and fairs from the attacks of scattered supporters of the defeated Habsburgs, the then mayor Pere Anton Veciana (1682–1736) founded the Mossos d'Esquadra , the civil police of Catalonia, which still exists today. The Veciana family ran the Mossos until 1836.

War of independence against Napoleon

During the war of independence against Napoleon , Valls was sacked by French troops. On February 25, 1809 they defeated under Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr in the Battle of Valls the Spanish troops under the Swiss General Theodor von Reding , who was seriously wounded. On April 23, 1809 he died as a result of the wound.

Calçots prepared in an open fire

Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls at a guest appearance on the occasion of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2007 (in front of the exhibition tower)

Camp d'Aviació de Valls during the civil war

To the east of the place was a field airfield during the civil war . This was built by the Republic of Spain from the end of 1937 and, after it was commissioned at the end of 1938, it was used by the Red Army air forces supporting the Republicans . After the area was conquered by the national troops in mid-January 1939, Valls was in Franco- controlled territory of the country. The place was then used by Jagdgruppe 88 of the German Condor Legion until the end of the war in Catalonia .

Culture and tradition

A culinary specialty that, starting from Valls, has now also spread to other parts of Catalonia, is the calçotada , in which calçots , a special type of spring onions, are grilled on a grill over an open fire and eaten with a typical sauce, the salvitxada . In Valls, the calçots have their own holiday: the last Sunday in January.

Valls is considered the cradle of the castells (human towers ). The first association of castellers , the Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls , was founded in 1801. The second association, the Colla de Joves Xiquets de Valls , was founded as early as 1805 . Both collas built towers with nine levels as early as the 19th century. The associations now have over 400 contributors each.

“The Calçots , the Porró and the Castellers - three things that have always fascinated me. They rise from the earth and let me look at the sky. "

- Bigas Luna : Catalan film director

The name days of the patron saints Sant Joan and Santa Úrsula are celebrated on June 24 and October 21, respectively.

Business

Valls owns an extensive industrial area of 250 hectares. Since 2006, the Swedish furniture store IKEA has been operating a logistics center for its 19 houses in southern Europe on 184,000 m² with 300 employees. The US food manufacturer Kellogg’s has its main plant in Spain ( Kellog Great Britain subsidiary ) with 180 employees in Valls . The Lear Corporation , one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world, has had a European development center in Valls with around 300 employees since 2002.

sons and daughters of the town

Jaume Huguet (* around 1412 in Valls, † 1492 in Barcelona), Gothic painter
Lluís Bonifaç i Massó (* 1730 in Valls, † 1786 in Valls), sculptor
Narcís Oller i Moragas (born August 10, 1846 in Valls, † July 26, 1930 in Barcelona), writer
Cèsar Martinell (born December 24, 1888 in Valls, † November 19, 1973 in Barcelona), architect
Robert Gerhard (born September 25, 1896 in Valls, † January 5, 1970 in Cambridge), composer
Ignacio Farrés Iquino (born October 25, 1910 in Valls, † April 29, 1994 in Barcelona), director and film producer
Aleix Vidal (born August 21, 1989 in Valls), football player