Gandía

Gandía, a seaport of eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia; on the Gandía-Alcóy and Alcira-Denia railways. Pop. (1900) 10,026. Gandía is on the left bank of the river Alcóy or Sérpis, which waters one of the richest and most populous plains of Valencia and enters the Mediterranean Sea at the small harbour of Gandía (El Grao), 3 m. N.E. The chief ancient buildings of Gandía are the Gothic church, the college, founded by San Francisco de Borgia, director-general of the order of Jesus (1510-1572), and the palace of the dukes of Gandía—a title held in the 15th and 16th centuries by members of the princely house of Borgia or Borja. A Jesuit convent, the theatre, schools and the palace of the dukes of Osuna, are modern. Besides its manufactures of leather, silk, velvet and ribbons, Gandía has a thriving export trade in fruit, and imports coal, guano, timber and flour. In 1904, 400 vessels, of 200,000 tons, entered the harbour.