Another mysterious metal monolith appears in Catalonia, this time in Aiguamúrcia

The sleepy Alt Camp county town of Aiguamúrcia, north of Tarragona, is not usually one to make headlines. With a population of just under a thousand, the municipality is probably most well-known for being home to the 12^th century Santes Creus monastery—but this could soon change.

Indeed, on Saturday the local council discovered Aiguamúrcia had become yet another one of the corners of the Earth—and the second in Catalonia—graced by the presence of a mysterious metal monolith after a first one was discovered in the Utah desert late last year.

"Unlike the others, this one is engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphics which we have been told mean 'the game has begun'," mayor Dolors Palma said of the 3-meter tall obelisk.

Although its origin remains unknown—Palma speculates it could even possibly be a company's stab at a publicity stunt—fascinated onlookers have already flocked to the site over the weekend.

"This could become a town attraction given its global impact," the mayor told the Catalan News Agency on Sunday. "We'll see if we can keep it here but we don't know how long it will last."

Sa Conca Monolith

The Santes Creus finding comes two weeks after a structure was discovered on the Costa Brava shore at S'Agaró's Sa Conca beach. Knocked over by a group of teenagers days after it first appeared, the local council has found a new home for it, for now, at the Parc dels Estanys nature reserve.

Discovery in Utah

The 'Utah monolith' was discovered in a red sandstone slot canyon in the Utah desert last November, although it was placed there at some point in 2016. 

Its origins, makers, and reasons for existence are completely unknown. Similar structures have also been spotted in the UK, Romania, the Netherlands, Poland as well as other parts of the globe. While some are known to have been constructed by local artists imitating the Utah column, the origin of others remains unknown. 

They are all around 3 meters tall, triangular, and appear and disappear amid mysterious circumstances. Many seem to be located in nature, such as the monolith seen on an Isle of Wight beach in the UK in December 2020. 

Whilst many presume these structures are the product of art projects, some conspiracy theorists have attributed them to aliens.