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Location Information:
Sóller
is a town and municipality near the
north west coast of Mallorca, in the
Balearic Islands of Spain. The town
is some 3km inland, from the Port de
Sóller, in a large, bowl-shaped
valley that also includes the
village of Fornalutx and the hamlets
of Biniaraix and Binibassi. The
combined population is around
13,000. A famous tramway, the Orange
Express links Sóller to Port de
Sóller.
Sóller
is linked by the historic railway,
the Ferrocarril de Sóller, and by a
highway with a toll tunnel, to the
Majorcan capital of Palma. The
Andratx-Pollença highway also runs
through the valley. The Ferrocaril
was completed in 1911 after work
began on the profits of the orange
and lemon trade.
The present-day economy is based
mainly on tourism and foreign
residents, complementary to the
agricultural economy based around
citrus and olive groves, which has,
in recent years, suffered from low
prices. Banco de Sóller, a
remarkable 1912 Modernista building
with defining ironwork, by the
Catalan architect Joan Rubió i
Bellver, a follower of Antoni Gaudí.
The bank's organisation was founded
in 1889 with the money of emigrants
who returned to Sóller prosperous.
On the other hand, the church can
clearly be seen standing out from
the canopy of the town from other
parts of the Vall de Sóller (the
surrounding valley). The original
building dates from some time before
1236. The current main interior
structure is now largely Baroque
(1688–1733). The campanar (belltower)
blends in well with its neo-gothic
design. The remarkable façade is a
1904 construction also by Joan Rubió.
The old street plan is of Islamic
origin, lined with historic houses
of the sixteenth to eighteenth
centuries. The town is bisected by a
fast flowing river with a number of
bridges and has a covered market.
Sóller is also notable for the
houses built in the early twentieth
century by emigrants who returned
wealthy to the town, particularly
those on the Gran Via which reflect
the fin de siècle Art Nouveau styles
of France.
Local
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