Novelda (, ; ) is a town located in the

province of Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is the second most populated Valencian province. Likewise, the second and third biggest cities in the Valencian Community (Alica ...

, Spain. , it has a total population of 27,135 inhabitants. Novelda has important

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

and

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

s of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

. It is a major centre of the

industry. It was probably settled by

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

, although it was controlled by

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

and

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

. Some centuries later it was

conquered Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

from the Moors by a son of

Ferdinand III of Castile Ferdinand III ( es, Fernando, link=no; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of ...

. 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 Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcel ...

, the Moorish castle of the ''Mola'', with its unique triangular tower, and the Museum of

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. 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. File:Santuario_de_Stª.Maria_Magdalena._Novelda_-_panoramio.jpg File:Novelda_-_Klosteret_Santa_María_Magdalena_-_panoramio_(3).jpg File:Novelda_-_Klosteret_Santa_María_Magdalena_-_panoramio_(15).jpg File:Santuario_de_Maria_Magdalena,_Novelda_04.JPG File:Santuario_de_Maria_Magdalena,_Novelda_07.JPG File:Novelda_-_Klosteret_Santa_María_Magdalena_-_panoramio_(11).jpg

Notable people

Mario Gaspar Mario Gaspar Pérez Martínez (; born 24 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for EFL Championship club Watford as a right-back. He spent 15 years of his career at Villarreal, making 424 official appearances and winnin ...

, footballer *

Fernando Béjar Fernando Béjar Durá (born 6 October 1980) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Béjar was born in Novelda, Province of Alicante. During his career, spent mainly in the lower leagues and with local Hércules C ...

(born 6 October 1980), former footballer

References

External links

Novelda Landmarks

Novelda Online

Municipalities in the Province of Alicante {{valencia-geo-stub

Notable people

See also

References

External links