One of the Costa Blanca’s most distinctive buildings is finally getting some serious structural attention after cracks forced it to close almost a year ago.
Restoration crews have started work on the Santuario de Santa María Magdalena in Novelda, wrapping scaffolding around its eastern tower and investigating the ground beneath the building.
Novelda closed the Modernist sanctuary to visitors in December 2025 after a technical inspection uncovered significant longitudinal cracks in the eastern tower.
Engineers later confirmed that the damage threatened the tower’s stability.
Now the restoration has moved from reports and paperwork to the building itself.
First job: secure the tower
The scaffolding surrounding the eastern tower provides the most obvious sign
that work has begun.
Once crews finish the exterior scaffolding, they will build a supporting structure inside the sanctuary so they can safely tackle the damaged upper section.
Workers will temporarily remove the stone cross and orb that crown the tower, along with masonry affected by the cracking. Restorers will repair those historic elements before returning them to their original positions.
Engineers are also looking underground
Not all the action is happening 25 metres above the ground.
Engineers are carrying out tests around the sanctuary to determine where they should inject polymer resin beneath the building.
The resin will help stabilise the structure and improve the ground supporting it.
That work matters because simply repairing the visible cracks would leave the underlying problem untouched.
The sanctuary therefore needs attention at both ends: high on the eastern tower and beneath the building itself.
There is more than one cracked tower to repair
Once crews make the structure safe, they can turn their attention to other parts of the sanctuary.
The wider project includes repairs to roofs, surfaces and decorative features that have suffered from damp.
Plans also include restoring the choir, although that work will have to wait until engineers have secured the eastern tower.
The sanctuary has been shut since December
Visitors have not been able to enter the Santuario de Santa María Magdalena since December 2025.
A technical inspection discovered the serious cracks and prompted the council to close the building as a safety precaution.
Engineers then carried out further studies while the council prepared the restoration project and completed the tendering process.
The scaffolding and ground investigations now mark the visible start of the repair work.
For Novelda, that is an important milestone after months in which residents and visitors could see one of the town’s best-known landmarks but could not go inside.
Novelda’s extraordinary Modernist landmark
The sanctuary would attract attention even without scaffolding wrapped around one of its towers.
It stands at La Mola above Novelda, close to the town’s castle, with twin towers and an elaborate façade that look very different from the traditional churches found across much of Alicante province.
Novelda engineer José Sala Sala designed the building, drawing inspiration from Catalan Modernism.
Construction began in 1918.
It then took almost three decades to finish, with work continuing in stages until 1946.
The two towers rise approximately 25 metres and frame a façade that combines reddish brick, colourful tiles and stone from the Vinalopó river.
Those materials, together with the building’s unusual shapes and decorative details, have made the sanctuary one of Novelda’s defining landmarks.
Even the shape tells a story
The sanctuary has another architectural curiosity that becomes clearer when viewed from above.
Its central rectangular nave and adjoining spaces create a floor plan traditionally compared with an ointment jar.
That shape has a symbolic connection with Mary Magdalene.
Christian tradition associates her with the ointment used in the anointing of Jesus, giving the unusual floor plan a religious meaning rather than making it simply an architectural flourish.
The sanctuary also houses the image of Santa María Magdalena, Novelda’s patron.
A building Novelda cannot simply replace
That helps explain why the restoration requires such careful work.
The sanctuary may only date from the 20th century, but José Sala Sala
created a building that has become inseparable from the image of Novelda.
Its location above the town, unusual silhouette and twin towers make it instantly recognisable.
Repairing it therefore means preserving as much of the original fabric as possible rather than simply replacing damaged sections with something new.
That is why crews will remove, restore and reinstall features such as the cross, orb and affected masonry.
The objective is not to give Novelda a new sanctuary.
It is to save the one it already has.
When will it reopen?
There is no firm reopening date yet.
The work must first stabilise the eastern tower before restoration can move on to other parts of the building.
How quickly that progresses will depend partly on what crews discover as they open up damaged areas and carry out the ground investigations.
Historic buildings have an inconvenient habit of revealing additional problems once work begins.
Bridging the Gap’s recap
- Restoration crews have started work at the Santuario de Santa María Magdalena in Novelda.
- Novelda closed the sanctuary in December 2025 after inspectors discovered serious cracks in its eastern tower.
- Scaffolding now surrounds the damaged tower.
- Workers will temporarily remove the cross, orb and affected masonry so restorers can repair them.
- Engineers are testing the ground to identify the best locations for polymer resin injections that will help stabilise the structure.
- Later work will tackle roofs, damp damage, decorative features and the choir.
- Novelda engineer José Sala Sala designed the sanctuary, and construction ran from 1918 until 1946.
- Its two towers rise around 25 metres and the building combines brick, colourful tiles and stone from the Vinalopó river.
- The council has not yet announced a firm reopening date.
