CALDES DE MALAVELLA

Mapa


Pl. de l'Ajuntament,8
Caldes de Malavella
CP: 17455
caldes@ddgi.es http://www.caldesdemalavella.com
Phone: 972 470 005
Fax: 972 470 525
Description: The municipality of Caldes de Malavella extends across 57.35 km2 and has a population of 5,280 inhabitants. It stands at an altitude of 84 m and has a population density of 92.07 inhabitants per km2. Thanks to the discovery of remains on the hill of Les Ànimes, we now know that the origins of the Caldes date back to the Upper Palaeolithic. These remains show that Caldes was already a thoroughfare in Palaeolithic times, when man followed the herds of animals during hunting season and had to stop to rest in places where there was water. However, it was not until the end of the first century AD and the advent of Romanisation that Caldes became a settlement. The fact that it produced hot water was a key factor in this development because Caldes became a very important spa resort called Aquis Voconis. Later, with the statute of Roman law, the town of Caldes became a municipality. In 1840, the first modern spa was built, which took its water from "Els Bullidors", and another three small bath houses were constructed, with a limited capacity, which would be the forerunners of the spa resorts of the nineteenth century. From this moment on, with the construction of the grand resorts, Caldes was firmly established as a summer spa resort. This activity led to a population growth, much of which came from Barcelona, often people with a high social standing. In the light of the growing importance of water, the municipality's economic activities began to shift their focus to water and the town's summer residents since, alongside the revitalisation of spa activity, the sale of mineral water had begun. Nonetheless, this would not reach sizeable dimensions until the 1930s. These two events created the need for a bigger workforce both from the services sector and from the bottling industry.