Manlleu

Inhabitants: 20.097
Extension: 14,172km²
Altitude: 461 m (Pl. Fra Bernadí)
Source INE. Official Census survey in 1.01.2007

Description

If there is one thing that has characterised the town of Manlleu down the ages it is its privileged location on the banks of the River Ter. The river has crafted this spot, set as it is between two of the most important meanders on the Vic Plain.

Large rounded stones, borne and sculpted by the river, are found in many of the town’s buildings (and in the bell tower itself, a lookout post that rises majestically from the hill on which the Upper Town stands). It was also the water of the Ter, tamed by its channelling through the Industrial Canal, that made possible the first modern industrialisation in the comarca in the mid-19th century.

Today, we can still see the group of factories, many of them originally powered by water, that line the 4 km of river frontage the town possesses. Standing amongst these is el Cau Faluga , the former residence of the Rusiñol family .

In the town itself, of particular note are the monumental noucentista square, the Plaça de Fra Bernadí, housing the Head Office of the Caixa de Manlleu savings bank, Can Puget , together with other educational centres, theatres, organisations and cooperatives, and a whole string of workers houses and the grand residences of the factory owners, all of which make up a magnificent example of living history.

Places of interest

Manlleu Industrial Canal

Canal, town and cotton Constructed between 1841 and 1848, based on the old mill race that drove the Molí de Dalt - the Upper Mill, the Manlleu Industrial Canal is one of the one hundred most important works that make up the Catalan industrial heritage. With nine turbines installed, the canal powered seven factories and two mills, which together transformed the town into the most important cotton-working centre in the comarca. This hydraulic engineering work, and the streets that run onto it, formed the industrial and urban setting that made the Manlleu of today.

The Manlleu Bell Tower