Those documents that exist concerning the origins of the Molines family go back to the 14th century, when a branch of the descendents of a Portuguese gentleman, Martin de Moles, settled in the Principality of Andorra and the County of Urgell.

One of these descendents, Joan Margarit , was elected cardinal in the year 1483 and  participated  in the conclave responsible for the designation  of Pope Sixto VI. Joan Margarit or Joan Moles, referred to as “El Gerundense” in papal documents, was bishop of Elna and Girona, ambassador to Rome for the court  of the Aragonese Kings Alfonso IV and Ferdinand I the Catholic, and one of those  responsible for introducing  Renaissance culture  to Catalonia.

Between the 16th to 19th centuries, the Moles family acquired considerable wealth comprised of land that, in the case of Andorra, was mainly  concentrated in the parishes of Andorra la Vella, Escaldes and Canillo. Included in this was the estate known as  “La Margineda”  which is  the oldest private territorial domain in the Principality.

The Moles family, made up of farmers and stockbreeders, combined  the growing of cereals with the rearing and trading of horses and mules, which at the time, were widely used, both  for the transport of merchandise ( Known as “traginers”) and for the transport of people to the important market places of Organyà, Puigcerdà, Aix- les-Thermes,Tarascón, Verdù or Calaf.

At the beginning of the 18th Century, the family began to develop the only possible industrial activity in the Pyrenees : the iron foundry ,which gave rise  to the production of iron ingots that the English engineers of the time baptised as of being “Catalan style” . In this manner, the Forges of Os (Os de Civis) and of Moles were built and exploited and were of such productive importance that the latter actually lent its name to the place it was situated in(La Farga de Moles).

Throughout all this time, the family were also active in the financial sector although this never constituted its main occupation. Outside big towns, banks did not exist and the chance of obtaining financing was few and far between. The Moles family virtually  became the bank for many private individuals, companies and institutions who obtained credit  by means of the issue  of “censales” and “violarios”, yearly returns  on the capital loaned, the sale of  “cartas de gracia” a loan against the right of use of a piece of land and its  mortgage guarantee ,the drawing of bank drafts or simple loans of money.

In 1841 Maria Nuria Moles was betrothed to Antoni Maestre, known as  “ Molines ” and the family thereinafter became known as  “Casa Molines”.

Also in the 19th century the family, together with others in the Principality, introduced tobacco growing as a new sector for economic activity in the country, thus creating the first craft factories and also participating in the creation of the “Compañia Andorrana de tabacos,S.A. (CATSA) which still exists today.

Having historically played such an  important role  in the economic and business sector, Casa Moline has also always been active in other fields of  social, cultural and political life in Andorra.

In 1719 the family undertook the  construction  of the chapel of Saint John the Baptist and the altarpiece of the same invocation  placed in Andorra la Vella’s parish church. In 1742 Antoni Moles, commissioned the baroque painter Juan Casanoves to paint the “Quadre de les Animes” (Picture of Souls). This work can  still be admired today  in church of  Sant Esteve  in Andorra la Vella.

Throughout its extensive history as a family, Casa Molines has contributed to the building and upkeep of the main public infrastructures existing in the Principality ranging from roads, schools, nurseries or medical centres . The family has also granted economic help needed for study and for a wide variety of other  needs.