Novelda

Novelda
Novelda
Town and municipality
	Monastery of Santa Maria Magdalena.
	Flag Coat of arms
	Novelda Location in Spain Novelda Novelda (Valencian Community) Novelda Novelda (Spain)
	Coordinates: 38°23′06″N 0°46′05″W / 38.385°N 0.768°W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Valencian Community
Province	Alicante
Comarca	Vinalopó Mitjà
Government
• Mayor	Francisco Martínez Alted (PSOE-PSPV)
Area
• Total	75.7 km2 (29.2 sq mi)
Elevation	241 m (791 ft)
Population (2018)
• Total	25,725
• Density	340/km2 (880/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	novelder, -a (Val.) ; noveldense (Sp.)
Postcode	03660
Official language(s)	Valencian; Spanish;
Website	Official website

Novelda (Valencian: [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 Maria 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.