1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mataró

MATARÓ (anc. Iluro), a seaport of north-eastern Spain, in the province of Barcelona, on the Mediterranean Sea and the Barcelona-Perpignan railway. Pop. (1900), 19,704. The streets of the new town, lying next the sea, are wide and regularly built; those of the old town, farther up the hill, still preserve much of their ancient character. The parish church of Santa Maria has some good pictures and wood carvings. The wine of the neighbourhood, which resembles port, is shipped in large quantities from Barcelona; and the district furnishes fine roses and strawberries for the Barcelona market. The leading industries are manufactures of linen and cotton goods, especially canvas and tarpaulin, and of soap, paper, chemicals, starch, glass, leather, spirits and flour. The railway to Barcelona, opened in October 1848, was the first to be constructed in Spain. Outside the town is the much-frequented carbonated mineral spring of Argentona.