Sabadell is the major city of the comarca (similar to the UK counties) of Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, Spain, and placed in the south-center of this comarca, upon the Ripoll river, 20 km NW from Barcelona.
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2 Communications 3 History 4 Art 5 Links |
Economy
It is located 190 meters above the sea. Sabadell is the capital of the comarca, sharing this title with the city of Terrassa. Sabadell is basically a commercial and industrial city, where live 183,727 people (2000), and it is 37.6 sqr km. There are not significative agrarian activities.
Communications
It is an important communications point. Two motorways runs beside de city, C-58 (from Barcelona to Manresa) and A-7 (from France and Girona to Tarragona, Valence and Andalusia), and some roads links Sabadell with nearby cities and towns: Terrassa, Castellar del Vallès, Granollers, Barberà del Vallès, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Rubí and Molins de Rei. A railroad line crosses the city (the RENFE line from Barcelona to Lleida) and another one finishes in the city (the FGC line from Barcelona to Sabadell by Sant Cugat del Vallès). Sabadell has an airport.
| In the jurisdiction of the municipality there was in the Roman ages a little village, called Arragone, near where the church of La Salut is now placed. This is where the inicial town, called Arraona or Arrahona, existed in the Middle Age. Another little village was build just on the other side of the river. This second village, called Sabadell, located on a plane land, began to grow and its population was about 600 people (152 houses) in 1378. Sabadell was enclosed by a wall, but the population growth made that, in the XVI century, some houses were build outside the wall. In that moment appear in the town the first textile industries, dedicated specially to wool clothes. This industry increased in the next centuries and in 1800 the town population was about 2000 people. The XIX century meant an important developement for the town. In 1856 arrived the railroad, and in 1877 reached the title of "city". In the 1897 census the population of the city was 23,044 people. In this time and later the city was the most important producer of wool clothes in Spain, and this clothes reached worldwide fame. The modernisme had important incidence in the architecture of the city in these times (1900-20). The growth of industry and population favoured the emergence of an important worker's movement and catalanist, socialist and anarchist parties were so influent until the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The victory of the fascist faction in the war represented for the city an important retrocession, but in the fifties the industry was recovered and increased. This industry need working hands, and many people had come from Andalusia, Murcia, Extremadura, Castile and other parts of Spain to work in the textile and metal industry. Again, a new worker's and catalanist movement growth, this time against Franco's regim and with the supply of the Catholic Church. Sabadell was the scenary of some sessions of the Assemblea de Catalunya, a multiparties organization that joined comunists, socialists, catalanists, catholics, etc. against the Franco's regim. The 1973 oil crisis and Franco's death (1975) meant an important change in Spain and, of course, in Sabadell. The economic crisis constrained the city to diversify its economic activities. Beside the industries apeared commercial and leisure areas (the Eix Macià) that meant an important economic developement for the city. |
Evolution of the population of the city of Sabadell in the last 30 years:
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Art
There are some historic and artistic buildings in the city. The little church of Sant Nicolau (XI century) is a remainder of the town of Arraona. The Casa Duran is a tradicional rural house (XVI century) placed in the middle of the city. There are some beautiful modernist buildings, like the Hotel Suís (Swiss Hotel, 1902), the Caixa d'Estalvis (1915), the Torre de l'Aigua (a nice water tower, 1918) and the Mercat Central (Central Market, 1930).
Links
The Ajuntament (Town Hall) web site is in http://www.sabadell.net
Some important institutions of the city are:
- Aeroport de Sabadell (Sabadell airport, http://www.aena.es/ae/qsa/homepage.htm )
- Agrupació Astronòmica de Sabadell (Astronomy Association, http://www.astrosabadell.org )
- Banc de Sabadell (http://www.bancsabadell.es )
- Caixa d'Estalvis de Sabadell (http://web.caixasabadell.com )
- Centre d'Esports Sabadell (Football Team, http://www.cesabadell.org )
- Club Natació Sabadell (Swinming Club, http://www.cns.es )
- and many more
See also List of municipalities in Barcelona.
