Village
Horta de Sant Joan is a medieval walled town in the Terra Alta, on the border with the Baix Ebre and with Aragon, at the foot of the Ports Natural Park, with 1,150 inhabitants (INE 2025). Inhabited since Iberian times thanks to its natural spring, it was Muslim territory until the Christian reconquest in the 12th century; from that period olive trees still stand. Pablo Picasso lived in the village in 1897-1898, when he was young, and returned in 1909 to develop his proto-Cubism, going so far as to say that everything he knew he had learned there; today the Picasso Centre recalls that relationship. The old town, declared a cultural asset of national interest in 1997, preserves manor houses such as the Casa Consistorial or the Casa de la Comanda, and the church of Saint John the Baptist.
Monument
Former Templar chapel with a priory, built at the foot of the mountain of Santa Bàrbara, which in the 14th century passed to the Order of the Hospital of Jerusalem — the Hospitallers — and later, in 1543, housed the Franciscan convent dedicated to Sant Salvador d'Horta, a friar born in 1520 whose reputation for healing attracted pilgrims until his death in 1567 and canonization in 1938; his fame aroused ecclesiastical suspicions that forced him to move to Reus. 25 minutes from the convent lie the cave and the spring of Sant Salvador, and around the complex remain traces of the old hermitages of Sant Pau, Sant Onofre, Sant Antoni and Santa Bàrbara, where hermit friars lived. The mountain and the convent were declared a cultural asset of national interest in 1985.
Monument
La Torre del Prior, also called Torre de Galindo, is a medieval building at the foot of the mountain of Santa Bárbara, in the ravine of the huerto del Fraile, a strategic spot with springs, irrigation channels and watering systems of medieval origin. It is a square-plan defence tower with very regular ashlar walls, with ground floor and upper floor: the lower one is covered with stone slabs in a very flat arch, and the upper one, with two slopes, is supported on four diaphragm arches that define a nave with a pointed barrel vault. On the main façade, facing east, the springing of the arch of the original entrance is preserved, with a coat of arms above the keystone. Documented in the 13th-14th centuries, it presided over the Templar commandery and later the Hospitaller commandery of Horta.
Monument
Fortified house in the village of Horta de Sant Joan, in Renaissance style, with a ground floor and two upper storeys under a gabled roof. On the ground floor opens the round-arched doorway next to several blocked windows; the first floor has windows with moulded lintels and the second a continuous gallery, with the different levels separated by moulded cornices, eaves and gargoyles. It retains a small cylindrical tower at one corner, and on the rear façade a large corbel where a balcony once stood. It was the seat of the commandery of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, dependent on the castellany of Amposta. Today it is the Casa Membrado, a well-preserved private residence, with a coat of arms of Navarre above the entrance door.
Monument
The castle and wall of Horta de Sant Joan form a set of defensive structures of the town, in the Terra Alta, declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). The founding of Horta is unknown, though it seems to owe its origins to the Arabs of Tortosa; the first mention of the castle dates from 1153, cited in the donation of the castle of Miravet to the Temple. In 1165 King Alfonso the Chaste granted the first charter of settlement for the Terra Alta, reserving the castle for himself; in 1166 it was in the hands of the Montcada family and passed to the Templars in 1182, becoming the seat of their commandery of Horta from 1193. The keep, the last standing element, was demolished in 1771. The commandery passed to the Hospitallers in 1317, who kept it until the 19th century.
Monument
The old town of Horta de Sant Joan (Terra Alta), declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection), rises on a hill at the northern end of the Ports de Beseit. The oldest area, oval in shape, occupies the hill where the castle once stood, with spiralling streets; the sector formed around the 14th century around the church square connects with the streets of Santa Anna, de Baix and de Picasso, and it was then that the town walls were raised. The Gothic church of the 14th-15th centuries survives, along with the squares of the Church and Sant Salvador, the town hall and the Casa de la Comanda, from the 16th-17th centuries, and stone-built manor houses. Its landscape, which influenced the work of the young Picasso during his stays in the village, was taken into account when delimiting the protected surroundings.
Nature
A natural area protecting the Catalan part of the Ports de Beseit massif, in the municipality of Horta de Sant Joan, where Catalonia, Aragon and the Valencian Community meet; a refuge for fauna and flora and one of the most extensive and highly valued natural areas in Catalonia for its geological, biological and scenic interest. It was declared a natural park in 2001, together with the Partial Natural Reserve of the Beech Forests of the Ports, after a lengthy process of engagement between the parties involved. It forms part of the European Natura 2000 network as a special protection area for birds and a site of Community importance, and most of its territory lies within the Terres de l'Ebre Biosphere Reserve.
Activity
The main festivals of Horta de Sant Joan, the town that inspired the young Picasso.
Monument
The hermitage of Sant Antoni Abat, in the municipality of Horta de Sant Joan (Terra Alta), near the landscapes painted by Picasso, is a simple building with a rectangular plan and small dimensions, now in ruins due to the poor quality of the masonry of its main walls; originally the interior was decorated with baroque-style elements and covered by a false vault. It is located on the upper part of the eastern slope of the hill, next to the path that climbs from the convent of Sant Salvador to the summit.
Nature
The natural surroundings of Horta de Sant Joan, in the south of the Terra Alta comarca, with very rugged terrain, inspired Pablo Picasso during his stays in the village. The painter visited Horta in his youth, between 1897 and 1898, invited by his friend and companion Manuel Pallarés, who was born in the town, and he went so far as to say that everything he knew he had learned there. He returned in 1909, when these landscapes helped him develop his proto-Cubist style, and on both visits he produced numerous paintings and drawings of the surroundings. The village keeps this legacy alive through the Centro Picasso, which organises exhibitions, symposia and publications about the artist and his relationship with Horta.
Activity
On 17 January, the eve of Sant Antoni, the residents of Horta de Sant Joan go up on a pilgrimage to the saint's hermitage; at midday the 'entrada del pi' takes place through the village's streets, and in the afternoon the animals are blessed in the church square before the bonfire is lit, at which the 'Sagalets del Foc i Flama' hand out burnt rum and sweets.
Historical milestone
The municipality was called simply Horta until the reform of the municipal nomenclature of 1916, which required repeated place names to be distinguished. The dedication to Saint John was then added, linked to the order that governed it.
Historical milestone
The Catalan Franciscan Salvador Pladevall, known as Salvador de Horta, was born in December 1520 in Santa Coloma de Farners; he entered the convent of Barcelona in 1541 and spent twelve years, between 1547 and 1559, at the convent of Horta de Sant Joan, where he gained a reputation as a healer and miracle worker who attracted pilgrims without cease, to the point of embarrassing his own fellow friars and prompting his repeated transfers between convents. He died in Cagliari, Sardinia, on 18 March 1567, aged 46, after arriving at the convent of Santa María de Jesús in November 1565. He was beatified in 1606 by Paul V and canonised by Pius XI on 17 April 1938, taking the name of the place where he lived the years of his greatest fame.
Food and drink
Pasties of bread dough filled with spinach sautéed with pine nuts and raisins, baked in the oven. They are Lenten food in the villages of the Ports and are still prepared in the households and in the bakeries during Semana Santa.