The Santa Fe Reservoir ( ca, Pantà de Santa Fe) is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

on the Riera de Gualba, a tributary of the Tordera River. It is located within the

Fogars de Montclús Fogars de Montclús is a municipality in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' ...

municipal term,

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The area is a popular destination for excursions and picnics and is easily accessible on foot from the nearest road.Pantano de Santa Fe de Montseny - Minube.com
/ref>

History

At the beginning of the 20th century Ramón de Montaner, a publisher from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

who had the project of building a luxury hotel in the area, bought the Santa Fe valley in the Montseny Range from the Alfaras family of

Sant Celoni Sant Celoni () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Vallès Oriental in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the valley of the Tordera river between the ranges of Montseny and Montnegre. The main part of the town is on the left bank of the ...

. Work on the hotel began in 1912 and a little dam was built in order to ensure electricity supply for it. Since the small dam —now known as ''l'Estanyol''— soon revealed itself insufficient, construction work of a second dam began in 1920. Initially the architect was going to be

Lluís Domènech i Montaner Lluís Domènech i Montaner (; 21 December 1850 – 27 December 1923) was a Spanish architect who was highly influential on '' Modernisme català'', the Catalan Art Nouveau/Jugendstil movement. He was also a Catalan politician. Born in Barcelo ...

, Ramón de Montaner's nephew, but in the end the dam was designed by Pere Domènech i Roura.La transformació de Santa Fe del Montseny (IV): l’hotel, l’Estanyol i l’embassament
/ref> The Santa Fe dam was built of local

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and ended up being completed in 1935, at the time of the

Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...

, shortly before the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The dam created a reservoir with a storage capacity of 899,000 m³ and also provided electricity for the nearby town of Gualba.

References

External links

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El caso del avión abandonado en el Montseny
Reservoirs in Catalonia Vallès Oriental Arch-gravity dams {{Catalonia-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links