La Pilona

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La Pilona is an artificial platform. It was used in the early 1900's as a docking station for ships collecting iron ore from the mines of "Can Palomeres". The ore was transported from the hills straight to the ships by a system of cable carts and supporting towers.

La Pilona is a real symbol in Malgrat de Mar and it is the most important remnant from the mining period in the municipality.

There used to be an iron mine in the mountain near Can Palomeres. In 1909 a French company established the Malgrat Iron Mine Society, which invested a large amount of capital to solve the infrastructure problems that made previous exploitation attempts fail. An aerial transport system was built, from the mountain to the sea, with cables attached to metal towers, on which mine carts full of iron travelled along 1.5 km. The material was transported straight to the ships' holds from La Pilona, which is 450 m from the beach.

On 12th November 1911 the first of 21 cargoes took place.

When the First World War started in 1914, the mines were closed for good. La Pilona is built on a solid brick base. Its structure supported an elongated platform where the pulleys for the cables to turn round were situated.