Village
Agost is a municipality in the comarca of l'Alacantí, 18 km west of Alicante, with 5225 inhabitants and a rich pottery tradition. The earliest traces of settlement go back to the Neolithic, and the Sphinxes of Agost, found in the upper part of the town centre next to the remains of the castle, date from Iberian times. James II definitively attached it to Valencia in 1296, and it separated from Alicante, to which it had belonged since 1252, at the end of the 18th century. From then on its clay proto-industry developed, becoming a powerful ceramics industry by the mid-19th century: today eleven potteries remain in operation, three of them using traditional materials and methods, famed for their botijos and jugs. Its mountainous surroundings offer numerous hiking routes.
Activity
Agost's patronal festivities, which date back to the 18th century, are held from the 25th of June to the 1st of July in honor of San Pedro Apóstol and were declared of Provincial Tourist Interest in 1986.
Monument
Municipal museum devoted to the study and promotion of Agost's pottery tradition; Agost is the botijo's capital thanks to the calcareous clay of its quarries, and offers the Ruta de la Alfarería through the workshops and kilns still working in the village. It was born in 1981 on the private initiative of the German ethnologist Ilse Schütz, who two years earlier had come across the old Torregrosa factory while on holiday and, captivated by the building, gathered objects from the 23 potteries then active in Agost to open the museum, of which she was owner and director for nineteen years, until in 2000 the town council took over its management. In 1985 the building of the Navà pottery was added, the seed of the present-day Centro Agost, and in 1993 it hosted the 4th International Symposium on Ceramic and Pottery Research.
Nature
Outcrops of clay and marl in ochre, green and reddish tones next to Agost, in the area of the Maigmó, whose extraction fed the local pottery industry for centuries.
Monument
The parish church of San Pedro Apóstol, in the capital of the botijo — whose pottery tradition using calcareous clay is documented since 1277 — was built in the 16th century and received alterations in the 18th, when the communion chapel and the side portal were added. It is a freestanding building with a four-bay central nave with side chapels, transept and presbytery, covered by two domes: one over the tower and another, larger one, on an octagonal drum resting on pendentives with high reliefs of the evangelists. The T-shaped communion chapel retains a red-marble plinth and decoration of gilded reliefs and fresco paintings. On the south façade stands out a classical portal dedicated to San Pedro, with a broken pediment and wrought-iron grille.
Monument
The hermitage of las Santas Justa y Rufina, in Agost, was built in 1821 by local potters in honour of their patron saints, remodelled in 1912 and carefully restored in 1995. Small in size and nearly square in plan, it stands between party walls, and its dome, set on pendentives, rests on a low drum with eight openings that let light into the interior. On the outside, the white and yellow render is topped with green and brown ceramic pots, the colours characteristic of local pottery, which are repeated in the glazed tiles of the dome: the whole building thus stands as an expression of the town's pottery craft.
Monument
An aqueduct of possible Arab origin in Agost, converted into a bridge open to traffic.
Nature
The Capa negra de Agost is an outcrop of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K/Pg) geological boundary in the municipality of Agost, in the comarca of L'Alacantí, Alicante. It marks the end of the Cretaceous and the start of the Paleogene, an event associated with the extinction of three-quarters of the Earth's species around 66 million years ago. It is one of the most studied sites of this boundary in the world, thanks to its easy access and the wealth of information it provides. It preserves fossils of small marine animals in exceptional condition, from when the area was part of the Tethys Ocean. In Spain there are only two other places where this boundary is visible: Caravaca de la Cruz and Zumaya.
Nature
The sierra of Maigmó and the neighbouring sierra of Ventós form a mountainous range in inland Alicante province, at whose foot lies Agost, with numerous hiking routes within the comarca of L'Alacantí. Maigmó, its main peak, reaches 1,296 metres and gives its name to the whole range, which covers about 1,280 hectares within the Maigmó Massif Nature Site, with commanding views over the entire Campo de Alicante. From the peak a ridge runs north taking in the Alto del Maigmonet, the Motllonera and the Alto de la Chimenea, while to the south, already within the sierra of Ventós, the height does not exceed 900 metres. The massif is shared between the municipalities of Tibi, Castalla, Agost and Petrer.
Curiosity
Agost's pottery tradition is documented from at least 1277, one of the oldest craft trades in the comarca of L'Alacantí. That tradition is documented and preserved today at the Pottery Museum, founded in 1981 on the initiative of the German ethnologist Ilse Schütz, who two years earlier had visited the town and discovered the old Torregrosa factory; before opening the museum she visited the 23 potteries still active at the time, gathering pieces from across the municipality. The town council took over its upkeep in 2000. From Schütz's initiative there also arose, in 1985, the Agost Centre for Ceramic Research and Creation, host in 1993 of the 4th International Symposium on Ceramic and Pottery Research.
Activity
The traditional dances of Agost, in the comarca of L'Alacantí (Alicante), are held from 26 December to 1 January, except on the 31st, in the afternoons in the village square, and blend elements of the fiestas de quintos (coming-of-age festivities), of Moors and Christians and of the old carnival. They are danced to the sound of the dolzaina and the tabal, played by the colla La Taranina. The protagonists are the danseros, young people who reach adulthood each year, together with the Rey Moro, who presides and dances with the couples, and the naranjeros, the following generation. The night of 27 December is the Noche de los Cohetes (Night of the Rockets): a ceremonial canopy is burned and the danseros hang oranges on the balconies. In the past it included a masquerade during the dance, today being recovered after years of having been lost.
Activity
Agost's patronal festivities in honour of the Virgin of Peace are held from 15 to 24 January. They begin with a solemn novena with rosary and mass; on the 22nd the festive events proper begin, with rockets, pealing bells and a flower offering to the Virgin in the afternoon. On the 23rd there is a parade with the town band and a serenade to the patron saint. On the 24th, the official feast day, a general peal of bells and rockets is set off, a solemn mass is celebrated in the parish church and, around seven in the evening, the procession sets out, passing through several streets of the village and ending with a fireworks display.
Food and drink
Pie of thin dough filled with tuna in oil, tomato, pine nuts and pepper, baked in the oven and cut into square portions. It was made using the bread baking and remains pilgrimage festival food and a snack out in the fields.