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History

The first reference to Vespella is found in the notes in 1167, when Berat de Viver, who had been the first "Señor" of Vespella (Lord), and his wife, Ermessenda, gave the Vespella Castle and the rights on the population to Ponç Far and fis wife Brunissenda. From then on, some knights had the ownship of the Romance castle and the village. Some of the knights were Ramon de Montoliu, Pere de Queralt and Melcior Icart. The castle is situated in a hill at a height of 191 metres.

Nowadays, the only part of the castle that is still up is the Chapel, which is the Parish Church of Sant Miquel. It has a nice altarpiece that represents the Mare de Déu del Roser, made in 1579. On the top of the hill, there is a crypt with a Middle Aged vault, that has a silo. It is known as "La Presó", and there it is the new site for the burying-place.


Vespella de Gaià reached its highest number of inhabitants in the last century. There were 300 inhabitants. In 1991, the census for the elections was of 71 people. The Mayor has promoted a system to increase the number of inhabitants, that has made it go up to 180 inhabitants. This methodology consisted on register the people that use to spend their time usually in Vespella. The population in Summer increases up to 2000 inhabitants.

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Local Festivities

There have been promoted several popular proposals so as the inhabitants can celebrate the Fiesta Mayor in the best conditions. The Fiesta Mayor is celebrated on the Day of Sant Miquel.

The "Cabalgata de Reyes" (on the 5th.of January), and the "Carnaval" (in February), are very interesting.

There is another popular feast, called the "Aplec de Sant Sebastià", who is the patron of the village.

Thus, the calendar of feasts in Vespella follows these three special days: the "Aplec de Sant Sebastià" on the 20th.of January; the "Fiesta Mayor de Verano" (Summer feast), on the 6th.of August (San Salvador) (this day is also celebrated in memoriam of the fire that damaged the village in 1993, burnt 1000 of the 1824 hectareas that has the township, and killed six people) ; and the "Fiesta Mayor de Otoño", on the 29th.of September, Day of Sant Miquel.

The association "Amics de Vespella de Gaià" has been very important in the restoration of these feasts, specially, in the year after the terrible fire that we have above mentioned.

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Remarkable places

The Mas d'en Plana is a rural building made in the 18th.century. It was thought to be the centre for the international art exchanges, after being restored and converted into the "Fundació d'Art Contemporani".The Pedrera de Mas d'en Blanc is a project made in order to protect the environment. It includes the recuperation of six ha. of land, that were used as a stone quarry first, and as a rubbish dump later on, with the idea of converting them in a place for making exhibitions, performances and shows. It will also help to the continuity of some other projects that have already started and are working very well, as the Museu d'Instal.lacions Artístiques de Vespella de Gaià (MIAVG). Nowadays, there are nine sculptures that can be visited in it, and they belong to nine famous artists. They are: Iraida Cano, Gabriel Félix Lozano, Glòria Ortega, Rufino Mesa, Antoni Mas, Guillermo Marín, Martí Royo and Juan Simó.


The Pedrera de Mas d'en Blanc
has a total surface of six hectares, divided in two levels. The project to restore it consists on the creation of a park that will contain the exhibition of the contemporary masterpieces.

They will be seen while the visitor is following any route through the Pedrera. The park will have an auditorium in the open air, with capacity for 5200 people. The surroundings will also be restored. The fire damaged them in 1993. This will offer a varied supply for the ecological and cultural life of Vespella.

The first phase for the intervention in la Pedrera, will consist on a process of controlled extraction. The Town Council gave the concession for this exploitation to the firm Camps i Roca S.L. Coming from Valencia, it offered an advanced project that will proportion a modern restoration of the Pedrera de Mas d'en Blanc. Actually, the Pedrera belongs to the Town Council. It recuperated it when Repsol S.A. submitted it to the village.

The rehabilitation of the Mas hopes to convert it into the Fundació d'Art Contemporani. It is supposed that it will become an interest place to visit as long as it has the pieces of many international artists. The Fundació will allow the national and international artists to be in contact. They will be living in the same building, and will use the painting, ceramics and the founding workrooms. There will be several exhibitions in the centre. This project is an excellent complement for the tourism supply in the Tarragonès county. Nowadays, it is mainly dominated by the Port Aventura for the leisure time (in the south of the county), and by the archaeological interest of the city of Tarragona for the cultural time. With the project of Vespella, there would be about forty kilometres of tourism interesting places by the sea, and also in the interior regions.

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Bibliography

On the 10th.of September, 1993, it was created the "Institut d'Estudis Vespellencs". Its aim was to publish the local monographs that made possible to know the wide history of the village. The first book that was published contained a large collection of images and pictures of the past and present of Vespella.

The second book contained a set of "litografías whose title was "Racons de Vespella de Gaià". They had been done by the artist and commercial artist Jaume Torras in 1994. The IEV cooperates with the Vespella de Gaià News Culturals Magazine from 1994, and it helps to publish the "Ermessenda de Viver" books collection. One of its books is the one whose title is "Libre Blau de Vespella de Gaià", and whose authors are Joan Abelló and Rafael Bartolozzi. This book explains all the local activity, and the cultural and political" projects, from the points when Rafael Bartolozzi became the Mayor of Vespella.

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