THE OLD CITY AND ITS THE OLD CITY AND ITS

ENVIRONMENTENVIRONMENT

•Olot is the capital of Garrotxa region in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on a plain of the high basin of Fluvià river, which crosses the city from one side to the other. The city is situated in the Olot Volcanic Field (an area with many inactive volcanoes), lying within the protected area of the Natural Park of the Volcanic Area of the Garrotxa. The urban area includes three volcanic craters: Montolivet, Montsacopa and Garrinada. The Natural Park covers an area of 119 Km² and it includes the famous beech forest of La Fageda d'en Jordà.

Main Theatre (with more than a hundred years) and the bullring ( it’s one of the oldest in the country) There are also wonderful sculptures in this avenue:

in 1918. It’s called Reading and represents education. It consists of two boys and a girl who are reading a book. It was inaugurated in

The church (1750-1763) in the very centre of the city is a wide building of neoclassical style with baroquefront and stairs. Inside there is a baroque altarpiece(17th C.), by Pau Costa, and a huge canvas by El Greco, Cristo con la cruz a cuestas -Christ with the Cross, (1605).The profile of the church and its bell are emblematic elements of Olot.

important streets in the city centre, where most commercial activity is developed. We can find clothes shops, jewelleries, a typical baker’s... At one end the street

St. Esteve's church.

Later people made bigger copies of it until the sculpture became a representative image of Olot. It Is one of the most important parks in Olotwhose style is French baroque.

gothic and late Renaissance style. It is formed by eight side chapels with shields. Carmelite cloisters

, became a municipal property and was opened to the public on 30th May 1943 as a municipal Olot Park. Currently, New Park, has about four hectares, and is home of the

is a centre dedicated to the manufacture of religious imagery, where visitors can witness in situ the details of this production. This activity has over a hundred years of history. The museum is located in a neo-gothic

Wonderful spots, declared Artistic Natural Park in 1945. One of the most peaceful places. The Moixina’s fountain is Romanesque and it’s made of volcanic stones with a shield and a lot of water streams, surrounded by a big group of oaks. A delightful landscape of swamps and wet vegetation which has inspired thousands of artists.

31st October 1936, the most horrible event of the Civil War in Olot. The cross was made in the scene of the events in the memory of all the people under arrest in

It’s called the Triaibecause in the past, during the month of May, young people from all the region came to Olot to look for a boyfriend-girlfriend, so the name of Triai, means “promise”. A party started and a lot of young people started a relation which was the cause of a lot of marriages.

11. FAGEDA D’EN JORDÀ 11. FAGEDA D’EN JORDÀ

Fageda d’en Jordá, of mysterious appearance, is an exceptional beechwood because it grows at an elevation of just 500m and is located above the lava flow of the Croscat Volcano. The relief of the land is characteristically waving, with short elevations (hillocks). Nowadays it is one of the twenty-five natural reserves of the Natural Park of the Volcanic Area of La Garrotxa. Building and hunting is banned. La Fageda is a kind of caducifolic forest, and it presents a different look according to the season.

Joan Maragall (Barcelona 1860-1911). He was a journalist and poems writer. His death in 1911 set the end of a literature movement called modernism. Joan Maragall visited the “Fageda d’en Jordá” and got inspired to write a poem about this beechwood, which transmits peace and calm feelings.

kind. Its eruption opened a wide circular crater, with 350 m of diameter, 70 m deep and 80 m high

17000 years ago, and the second one was 11500 years ago. It is an strombolian volcanoexplosion of magma fragments. The fragments of the Croscat covered an area of 10 km² and they joined making a cone 160m high. The crater with a horseshoe shape is 600m long and 350m wide.

is only accessible on foot, but it is worth climbing for the 360º view. In the crater, the church of Sant Francesc was built in the 19th C. and the watch towers date from the era of the Carline Wars, also in the

Passeig Sant Roc is a walk situated on the left bank of the river Fluvià, with a row of centenary plane trees on both sides. At one end there is Saint Roc bridge, Saint Roc fountainSaint Roc chapel, built in 1594.

. The legend says that she was found by an ox, and Tura’s intervention. The first building was from the early centuries it was restored and widened. Then, in 1936 the church was burnt, the bell tower destroyed and the Romanesque figures of th

Ecce Homo by Amadeu were the only elements saved. At present it is restored.