Manlleu lies on the banks of the River Ter, in central Osona County, where it was founded a thousand years ago. Lying just 80 kilometres from both Barcelona and Girona, the town has its own distinctive personality as a dynamic, vital centre which also boasts considerable industrial heritage, enabling producers to focus on either its historic aspects or its modern side, or both. The river banks have witnessed the urban and social transformation of this municipality. Such heritage industrial sites as the Colònia Rusiñol, the old Can Sanglas cotton factory (which now houses the Ter Industrial Museum) and the impressive mansions of the factory owners' families stand side-by-side with the new Passeig del Ter, Manlleu's liveliest open-air leisure centre, and new municipal facilities, such as Can Puget and the Frederica Montseny Civic Centre. Another outstanding site here is the Noucentista-style Plaça de Fra Bernadí, a square over which looms, from the upper town, or Dalt Vila, the belltower of the Church of Santa Maria, a 52-metre-high tower open to the public, and one of the finest viewpoints over the Vic Plain.