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from Wikipedia:

Falla monument
A Falla or monumento fallero is an artistic monument, usually large (three to twenty meters in height, sometimes higher) composed of figures called ninots, which typically encircle one or more bigger central figures, called remates. The fallas are placed in the streets during the Falles festival in Valencia (Spain), and in other towns with festivals inspired by it. The monument usually deals with a satirical subject connected with recent news or public controversies, and is covered in posters with words, verses and statements of a humorous nature. The monument is made with combustible materials (cardboard, wood, paper, clothing, expanded polystyrene, etc.) which are then burned in the streets after being on show for a few days.

Origin and evolution
In medieval Valencian the word Falla named the torches that were placed on top of watchtowers. This word is derived from Latin Facula, torch. In the Llibre dels feits, it is stated that the troops of King James I of Aragon carried Fallas to light their way.

The material origin of the monumento fallero was burning waste from carpenters and private homes. That is to say, it came from popular festivities and those of local guilds. It was often children who, on the eve of Saint Joseph's festivity, patron saint of the woodworkers guild, made the collection with things such as cattail chairs, old furniture, brooms or grass mats on the eve of Saint Joseph's festivity, patron saint of the woodworkers guild.

In this, the fallas festivity was not very different from the Hogueras de San Juan (for example those in Alicante), which are held throughout Europe or the bonfires of Hogueras de San Antonio also very typical of Valencia too.

The specific quality of the Fallas comes from the fact that it is a festival of particular neighbourhoods in which locals take the opportunity to criticize each other. With the creation of the first, very rudimentary, figures, came the burlesque, satirical posters. These criticisms were often directed at the municipal power, the church or the state.

This first stage of the festivity ranges from its uncertain beginnings to the last decades of the nineteenth century. In those days the ninots were made of waste, paper, wood and cardboard.

It is around the turn of the century when the first ninots with a cloth body and a head and hands made of wax appeared. The creation of these takes a lot more work so we can say that the figure of the fallero artist is born. This period lasts until the 1920s–1930s. There is at this stage a transformation in the festivity, with the appearance of mold cardboard figures.

This technique allowed for the building of higher monuments and it has come down almost to the present day, where it is still used, especially for smaller ninots and fallas of lower budgets. An advantage inside the disadvantage of the mold technique is the possibility of making the same ninot indefinitely. Therefore, the fallas with bigger budgets made original molds every year, which were used by others at a lower price the following years. Finally, from 1990s appeared the technique of expanded polystyrene or Styrofoam. Its lighter weight allows for more height in the monuments, and requires greater innovation in design.