Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Sant Mateu

What to see and do in Sant Mateu (El Baix Maestrat, Castellón): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Sant Mateu

Archpriest Church of San Mateo Apóstol 100 m
Millennial olive trees of Sant Mateu 7.2 km

Towns near Sant Mateu

What to see in La Salzadella 5.3 km · 3 places
What to see in Xert 6.2 km · 4 places
What to see in La Jana 7.1 km · 3 places
What to see in Cervera del Maestre 8.3 km · 6 places
What to see in Tírig 9.8 km · 9 places
What to see in Canet lo Roig 11 km · 7 places
What to see in Traiguera 11 km · 5 places
What to see in Catí 13 km · 12 places

Spain › Valencian Community › Castellón › El Baix Maestrat › Sant Mateu

What to see and do in Sant Mateu

Sant Mateu
Village
Sant Mateu is the historic capital of the Maestrazgo and a municipality of El Baix Maestrat, in the province of Castellón, famous for its almonds, wines and oils. It stands at about 325 metres above sea level in the old Vall d'Àngel, a valley rich in springs and streams that flow into the Rambla de Cervera, covered in pine forests and thousand-year-old olive trees among aromatic plants such as rosemary and lavender. Settlement dates back to prehistory, with Levantine rock art and Iberian remains at the Tossal de Carruana, and continued into Roman times, when Ptolemy placed here the city of Intibili, next to the route of the Via Augusta; finds from 1925 in Santo Domingo street confirm the antiquity of the settlement. The name San Mateo is documented for the first time in 1195.
Historic centre of Sant Mateu
Monument
The historic centre of Sant Mateu, former capital of the Maestrazgo, is declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) as a Conjunto Histórico. Its Gothic heritage includes the archpriestal church, considered a key monument of Valencian Gothic architecture, with a 13th-century Romanesque portal, a Gothic nave and a 15th-century bell tower; the town hall or Cort Nova, an example of mid-15th-century Valencian civil Gothic with a stone façade; and the medieval plaza Mayor, laid out in the late 14th century with seven converging streets and a central fountain. Remains of the medieval wall are also preserved, which withstood two major sieges in the 17th and 18th centuries, reflecting the town's rise as a wool centre between the 13th and 15th centuries.
Festivities of Sant Mateu
Activity
Sant Mateu's patronal festival runs from 18 to 29 August in honour of Santa Tecla and Sant Climent, with the traditional ball pla on the 20th; the town also has as patron saints the Virgen de los Ángeles and San Mateo Apóstol, celebrated on 21 September.
Archpriest Church of San Mateo Apóstol
Monument
Archpriest church of Saint Matthew the Apostle, on the Plaza de la Iglesia of Sant Mateu (Castellón), declared National Heritage and an outstanding example of Valencian Gothic, with elements of every style from the 13th century to the late 18th. It preserves the original Romanesque portal, with capitals depicting Adam and Eve and the presentation of the head of Saint John the Baptist. The main nave, Gothic, was built between 1350 and 1360 by the Order of Montesa over the original Romanesque nave; the octagonal tower reaches 32 metres. Among its chapels, notable are that of the patron saint, the Virgin of the Angels (17th century), and another from around 1790 containing the remains of a martyr found in the catacombs of Santa Priscila. The temple was the setting, in 1414 and 1429, for the Disputation of Tortosa and the papal renunciation that ended the Western Schism.
Via Augusta through Sant Mateu
Nature
Stretch of the old Roman road Via Augusta that crosses the municipal district of Sant Mateu, within the comarca of El Baix Maestrat.
Millennial olive trees of Sant Mateu
Nature
These centuries- and millennia-old olive trees cover, together with the pine groves, a large part of the valley where Sant Mateu lies, forming a forested landscape that has become a tourist attraction. One of the municipality's three signposted hiking routes, the route of the millennia-old olive trees, runs through these trees, integrated into the agricultural landscape of the Baix Maestrat comarca.
The renunciation of the antipope Clemente VIII
Historical milestone
Gil Sánchez Muñoz, elected at Peníscola as successor to the Papa Luna, abdicated in 1429 at Sant Mateu before the legate of pope Martin V and handed over the pontifical insignia: it was the end of the Western Schism.
Sant Mateu, capital of the Order of Montesa
Historical milestone
With the military order of Montesa created in 1317 out of the goods of the dissolved Temple, the town became its administrative head in the Maestrazgo; from that capital status come its arcaded square and its Gothic noble houses.
The Sant Mateu olleta
Food and drink
A stew of pulses, vegetables and pork products cooked slowly, the winter dish of the old capital of Montesa; it is accompanied by oven-baked rice, paella amb pilotes and rollets d'aiguardent for dessert.