.jpg)
Calella is a municipality in the Maresme region, located 50 km from Barcelona, 50 km from Girona and 6 km from the Montnegre-Corredor Natural Park. It is known as the tourist capital of the Costa del Maresme and is characterized by being a cosmopolitan city with a typical Mediterranean climate.
Its urban layout, with a central pedestrian and commercial area, green spaces and wide range accommodation offer, make of Calella an important tourist destination.
Calella has beaches three kilometers in length and more than 180,000 m2 of golden sand, blue waters, and natural areas such as Dalmau Park, Manuel Puigvert promenade, Garbí promenade, The Lighthouse or The Turrets.
Calella is a city with almost 700 years of history. It has been, and still is today open to the sea and the mountains, jealous of its history, of a past rich in facts and always open to Catalanness, which has become, over the years, a newcomers receiving community.
For some years now, an ambitious process has been set in motion: to become a city of reference in sports, health, cultural and family tourism. The population's clear commitment to sport and culture is demonstrated in a wide range of sports, cultural, artistic, leisure and family activities promoted by the City Council, as well as in the wide variety of facilities and sport disciplines that can be practiced in the city.
From the 1st century BC, the progressive process of Romanization gave rise to numerous villas in the lower areas of the coast, connected by the Roman road that lead to Barcino (Barcelona). These were agricultural mansions dedicated to the production of wheat, oil or wine.
In Calella, the remains of a Roman villa that could be dated between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD have been excavated close to the city hospital.
It is not until the 11th century that we have data of the existence of a settlement in the Capaspre area integrated into the parish of Pineda de Mar and under the stately dependence of the Lord of Montpalau Castle. It consisted of a small number of farmhouses located at the top of the stream, with a defense tower and a couple of chapels dedicated to Saint Quirze and Saint Julita.
More information: Ajuntament de Calella
The name Calella has been documented since the beginning of the 12th century. From then on, away from the Saracen danger, some residents of the Capaspre area built their first fishermen's houses near the mouth of the stream. The will of Bishop Bernat Umbert, written in 1101, is the oldest document found that refers to Calella.
Other important dates related to the birth of the city are in 1327, when Viscount Bernat II of Cabrera, lord of Montpalau, granted the privilege of having a market and the settlement charter, and in 1338 when the market privileges were enlarged.
These privileges, upheld in 1423 by Violant de Cabrera on behalf of her husband, and in 1426 by Bernat Joan de Cabrera himself, along with the fishing development, favored urban growth: during the 15th century many peasant families from neighboring villages settled in the village. By then it had a defense tower and a new chapel dedicated to Saint Elm.
During the sixteenth century the city was drawing up its urban framework and, in 1525 the Pope authorized the construction of a church. Three years later, the works of the temple began. While the Church was being built, the people of Calella received the sacraments in the chapel of Sant Elm.
In 1564 the new church was consecrated and in 1599 Gastó de Moncada, Marquis of Aitona and Viscount of Cabrera, granted new privileges establishing the definitive organization of the municipal council, represented by juries and councillors, renewable annually, and dividing the inhabitants into three classes: wealthy, craftsmen and day labourers.
In the 1570s, Abraham Ortelius first mapped Calella's name on a map of the peninsula. In 1586, Calella already had an urban plan made to scale.
After a long period of stagnation due to the wars and epidemics that ravaged the country during the seventeenth century, from 1714, once the War of Succession ended, the city began a process of demographic and economic growth, going from the 768 inhabitants in 1718 to 2,637 in 1787. During these years, the traditional agricultural and fishing activities were expanded with boat construction. The last third of the century, thanks to the liberalization of trade with the American colonies, was the golden age of overseas trade, which contributed decisively to the industrial development of the entire region.
In 1790 there were already more than 200 looms dedicated to the manufacture of silk and cotton stockings.
By the end of the century, many new
streets had been added to the initial nucleus, becoming Església Street
and Jovara Street the new central streets.
More information: Fem Turisme
Despite wars and revolutions, industrial activity (textiles) and transatlantic trade maintained their production.
In 1854 the construction of large boats and fishing boats began.
On August 1, 1861, the train officially arrived in Calella, although it had been stopping at a Calella temporary stop since 1859. The population began a period of growth, from 3,500 inhabitants in 1860 to 4,316 in 1900. The cause of this growth was the installation of the first steam-powered factories, which offset the upheaval in maritime trade caused by the loss of the colonies.
The first decades of the 20th century were a time of splendour for Calella's industry, which was cut short by the civil war. The decline of the textile sector went hand in hand with the spectacular development of tourism, especially from the sixties onwards. This process is clearly reflected in demographics: strong growth from 1900 to 1930, stagnation between 1930 and 1960, and spectacular growth during the 1960s and 1970s.
In the 1970s until the mid-1990s, Calella became a very important tourist destination for Central European tourism (German, Dutch, Danish, English, French), and was thus popularly known as Calella dels Alemanys as its population tripled in the high tourist season (which coincides with the end of spring, summer and the beginning of autumn). Currently the variety of tourism has grown, and visitors are received from virtually every country in Europe.
The Lighthouse is one of the most characteristic symbols of the city. It is located at the top of the Capaspre, the same place where an old medieval tower had stood. It was inaugurated in 1859, with an olive oil light lantern. The lighthouse housed the lighthouse keeper's house on the ground floor, and both the lantern and the building have undergone several modifications over time. Since 2011 it has housed the Calella Lighthouse Interpretation Center, where the lighthouse's communication relationships with its surroundings are explained.
Around the figure of the Calella Lighthouse, the Centre aims to explain the communication relations from three perspectives: the maritime communications, for this intrinsic functionality of orientation to boats, the terrestrial communications, through optical telegraphy that we can contemplate in The Turrets, close to the Lighthouse, and the urban communication with the city, by means of church bells and various bell towers. The contents are explained in an entertaining way through audio-visual.
More information: Calella
A fallen lighthouse is more dangerous than a reef.
Navjot Singh Sidhu
No comments:
Post a Comment