Village
Municipality of the comarca of Monte Ibérico-Corredor de Almansa, in the province of Albacete, known for its rock art: the Cueva de la Vieja, discovered in 1910 by the schoolmaster Pascual Serrano Gómez, and the shelters of the Carasoles del Bosque, located by the abbé Henri Breuil, form part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin declared a World Heritage Site in 1998. In the village a monument to the prehistoric artist was raised in 1989, and its church of Santa Marina, Baroque of the eighteenth century, has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1992.
Nature
Rock shelter with Levantine cave paintings discovered in 1910 by the schoolteacher Pascual Serrano Gómez, a resident of Corral-Rubio. Protected since 25 April 1924 as a monumento histórico-artístico (Spain's historical-artistic heritage protection category), it forms part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. It is an outstanding example of the Levantine art of the last Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherers, with more than 170 painted motifs: 33 archers, 13 human figures, deer, goats, bulls and a horse. It also preserves 37 later abstract motifs, between 6,500 and 3,200 years old, attributed to Neolithic groups. The same municipal district also contains the Cueva del Queso and the Carasoles del Bosque.
Nature
Rock shelter with rock art in the municipal district of Alpera, discovered by the prehistorian Henri Breuil together with Carasoles del Bosque I and II. It has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 17 February 1997 and, together with the rest of Alpera's rock art complex, forms part of the 1998 World Heritage declaration under the heading “Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula”, which brings together representations of Epipalaeolithic Levantine art, some 10,000 years old, and Neolithic schematic art, some 6,500 years old.
Monument
Two rock shelters with cave paintings located in the municipal district of Alpera by Abbé Henri Breuil shortly after 1910, with examples of Levantine and schematic art. The abstract expressions of the schematic art are attributed to the Neolithic farming groups that inhabited the area some 6,500 years ago.
Monument
An 18th-century Baroque church with two doorways, one Baroque of the late 17th century and one neoclassical dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) on 22 December 1992.
Monument
An 18th-century Baroque hermitage on a Greek cross plan with a dome over the crossing, one of the most singular religious buildings in the municipality.
Monument
The Pozo de Nieve de Alpera stands next to the urban centre of this town in the province of Albacete, and is considered one of the best-preserved examples of industrial archaeology in Castilla-La Mancha devoted to snow storage. Its construction dates to around the 18th century, although the existence of earlier, smaller structures from as far back as the 16th century cannot be ruled out. It fully preserves a limestone masonry dome raised on a polygonal plan, completed at its lower level by an underground cylinder where the ice produced on the outdoor threshing floors was stored, with openings framed by brick arches. In its surroundings, now half in ruins, structures and water channels linked to the ice trade and to the workers' housing are preserved.
Monument
A sculpture erected in Alpera in 1989 as a collective tribute to the makers of the municipality's cave paintings. In 1991 it was joined by the Monument to the Constitution, a work by Alexandre Grimal inspired by the Cueva de la Vieja.
Activity
The main festival of Alpera, celebrated from 30 April to 3 May in honour of the Santísima Vera Cruz, with religious ceremonies, open-air dances and popular festivities that bring together much of the town during those days.
Curiosity
The discovery of the Cueva de la Vieja in 1910 by the schoolmaster Pascual Serrano Gómez was one of the finds that made Levantine art known to the scientific world, and it drew the Abbé Henri Breuil to the municipal district of Alpera.
Curiosity
The Camino de Santiago de la Lana is one of the oldest trade routes on the peninsula, documented since 1624, when three pilgrims set out from Monteagudo de las Salinas for the Apostle's tomb at Santiago de Compostela to fulfil a vow. Alicante is regarded as the official starting point of the main route, which coincides on its first stretch with the Camino de Santiago del Sureste, and it is joined by several branches coming from Jávea, Cartagena, Benidorm and Villajoyosa that converge at Almansa, barely 21 kilometres from Alpera. The route, well signposted between Alicante and Burgos and equipped with hostels at every stage, has a complete guide published by the Diputación de Albacete in 2019, and on some stretches coincides, in the opposite direction, with the Camino del Cid.
Historical milestone
The Unesco committee included the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin in the World Heritage list, and with it the Alpera shelters found by the schoolmaster Pascual Serrano in 1910, with Levantine hunting scenes and schematic figures.