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In Girona, in front of the Palau-sacosta swimming pool, this curious abandoned tank stands out, one of the most curious elements to discover in this city, due to its peculiar shape that seems taken from one of the alien ships from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells., as seen in this photographic report in La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos.
In reality, it is obviously not a UFO, but a vestige of Girona’s industrial past. It is an old and rusty sulfuric acid tank from the old Chemical and Tartaric Industries factory, popularly known as els Químics.
During the decade of the 20s of the last century, the Gerund businessman Josep Ensesa bought some land in Palau-sacosta to build the tartaric acid factory, as the Association of Neighbors and Residents of Palau-sacosta remembers.
Ensesa was also the founder of the Farinera Montserrat 1880, also known as Casa Ensesa (current headquarters of the Municipal Music School of Girona).
This factory became the most important in Spain for tartaric acid, in addition to being one of the most prominent in Europe for this product. The most characteristic element that has survived to this day is the chimney, from 1934, built by the Badalona industrialist Joan Coret i Ambrós and certified by the architect Joan Padrós i Fornaguera.
At first it was planned to be 50 meters high, but in the end five more were added. Today it is still an emblem of the neighborhood and where the factory was there are now apartment blocks, in addition to this peculiar warehouse that attracts the eyes of the most curious.
