Malavella Castle and the basalt outcrops
Records of malavella Castle back to the year 1054, when a land deed drafted by the Countess Ermesinde mentions a castro vetulo (old castle). Three years later, in 1057, there is another reference to a castro quod dicunt Malavella (castle known as Malavella) in a oath by Countess Almodis, the wife of Ermessenda’s son, Count Ramon Berenguer I.

In the 13th century, Caldes de Malavella, Llagostera and Malavella Castle formed part of a royal bailiwick within the jurisdiction of the Count of Barcelona. In 1241, Jaume I granted the bailiwick royal privileges that absolved it of significant feudal dues. However, in 1324, the bailiwick of Caldes was passed to the noble hands of Ot de Montcada and, in 1375m t became a dependency of the Barony of Llagostera, under the Mouse of Montcada.

There are various remarkable volcanic outcrops in Calds de Malavella. The most important, in terms of its size, is the one located on the hill of Sant Maurici, where there is volcanic conduit through which magma, gases and projectile materials used to rise and spew out. This conduit is formed of hundreds of basalt prims created 4.4 million years ago.

The castle was built right in this area. Dating back to the 12th century, its ruins are dark grey in colour, due to the basalt rock that forms the hill itself, remnants of the old volcanic conduit. We can see that the castle wall was built from these basalt prisms to take advantage of the nearest resources and, most probably, to reduce the cost of the sonemasons.

Nowadays, only remnants of the nothern, eastern and southern walls remain. The castle would have been formed of a first enclosure delimited by two walls (to the east and north-east) and a second walled compound with three square towers In the nother-eastern corner, there are remains of the old castle chapel, dedicated to Saint Maurice. which was rectangular with semi-circular apse. In some places, we can still discern remnants of the mural paintings that must once have covered the church walls.