History and heritage
Prehistory
Mollet is located on a water-rich plain. Its geological origins date back roughly ten million years. Remnants of the Neolithic period include the Mollet Menhir, an immense six-tonne and almost five-metre-high megalithic monument discovered in 2009, with relief carvings and engravings that have given it international renown.
Mediaeval period
Mollet del Vallès celebrated its one-thousandth anniversary in 1993. The earliest document bearing its name dates to 993 AD. At that time, Gallecs and Mollet were small villages surrounded by fields and forests.
From that period, we find the 12th-century Romanesque Santa Maria de Gallecs Church, the base of the bell tower from the Sant Vicenç Church (11-12th centuries) and several farmhouses. In the late 15th century, the new Gothic-style Sant Vicenç Church was built atop the modest Romanesque structure.
Mollet became an important stop on the land routes between Barcelona and Vic and Barcelona and Girona-France. But it was not until the end of the 18th century that Mollet’s population experienced significant growth.
21st century
With the new millennium came the construction of new municipal buildings in Mollet: the Ca n’Arimon Sports Complex; the new Mollet Hospital; Els Colors Park; Les Pruneres Park; the new City Hall, the façade of which features a mural by Joan Brossa; new nursery schools; residential services for the elderly; and new garden areas.
Mollet del Vallès and its architectural heritage
Mollet boasts a number of architecturally renowned buildings built in a host of different styles. They include the Romanesque church in Gallecs and the Gothic Sant Vicenç Church; the Can Borrell farmhouse and tower (12th century); La Marineta, a popular 16th-century inn that is now a community and cultural centre; the Noucentista-era buildings of the Can Mulà Library, surrounded by the Can Mulà Park, and Can Gomà, home to the Municipal School of Music and Dance and the Municipal Theatre; along with the building that houses the Abelló Museum, the neo-Gothic façade of the Amadó Pharmacy and the Modernist façade of Casa Viñas, today the Odet Saüc boutique; the house located at 2-4, Carrer de Itàlia, and the Can Boix houses at 67, Carrer de Berenguer III, also Modernist-era; the modern and comfortable Mollet Hospital, which offers spectacular views of Gallecs; the new Municipal Market; and the new City Hall, situated in the centrally-located and modern area known as L’Illa.
Mollet is also home to more than thirty catalogued sculptures, which are scattered throughout the city. In the centre we find the Menhir, which sits in the courtyard outside the Can Mulà Library; the Modernist Fountain, in Plaça de Prat de la Riba, the location of the old City Hall; the façade of the new City Hall, by Joan Brossa; the Arch-Fountain in Les Pruneres Park; La Garriganga and the Harlequin, by Joan Abelló; and the Water Woman, in Rambla Nova.