Novelda | |
---|---|
City and municipality | |
![]() Monastery of Santa María Magdalena. | |
Coordinates: 38°23′06″N 0°46′05″W / 38.385°N 0.768°W | |
Country | ![]() |
Autonomous community | ![]() |
Province | Alicante |
Comarca | Vinalopó Mitjà |
Government | |
• Mayor | Francisco Martínez Alted (PSOE) |
Area | |
• Total | 75.7 km2 (29.2 sq mi) |
Elevation | 241 m (791 ft) |
Population (2018)[1] | |
• Total | 25,725 |
• Density | 340/km2 (880/sq mi) |
• Language | Spanish |
Demonym(s) | Noveldense (Spanish) Novelder, noveldera (Valencian) |
Postcode | 03660 |
Website | Official website |
Novelda (Valencian pronunciation: [noˈvɛlda], locally [nuˈvɛldɛ]; Spanish: [noˈβelda]) is a town located in the province of Alicante, Spain. As of 2009[update], 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.