Novelda

Novelda
Monastery of Santa María Magdalena.
Coat of arms
Novelda Location in Spain
Coordinates: 38°23′06″N 0°46′05″W / 38.385°N 0.768°WCoordinates: 38°23′06″N 0°46′05″W / 38.385°N 0.768°W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Valencian community
Province	Alicante
Comarca	Vinalopó Mitjà
Government
• Mayor	José Rafael Sáez Sánchez (PP)
Area
• Total	75.7 km^2 (29.2 sq mi)
Elevation	241 m (791 ft)
Population (2009)
• Total	27,135
• Density	360/km^2 (930/sq mi)
• Language	Valencian
Demonym(s)	Noveldenses (Spanish) Noveldec, -a (Catalan)
Postcode	03660
Website	Official website

Novelda (Valencian: [noˈvɛɫda]; Spanish: [noˈβelda]) is a town located in the province of Alicante, Spain. As of 2009, it has a total population of 27,135 inhabitants.

Novelda has important quarries and mines of marble, limestone, silica, clay and gypsum. It is a major centre of the marble industry.

It was probably settled by Greeks, although it was controlled by Carthaginians and Romans. Some centuries later it was conquered from the Moors by a son of Ferdinand III of Castile.

Places of tourist interest in Novelda include the monastery of Santa María Magdalena (dated from the 19th century), which has a church designed by a disciple of Antoni Gaudí, the Moorish castle of the Mola, with its unique triangular tower, and the Museum of Modernism. This is a well preserved art nouveau house with original artifacts from the 1920s. The house itself is a work of art. The House-Museum is located in a modernist building designed by Pedro Cerdan Martinez (1863-1947) and is now a centre for modernist research and promotion. There are also several natural and salty lakes to visit in the surroundings.

Notable people

• Mario Gaspar, footballer
• Fernando Béjar (born 6 October 1980), former footballer

See also

• Route of the Castles of Vinalopó

External links

• Novelda Landmarks (English)
• Novelda Online (Spanish)
• Museo Modernista (Spanish)