Village
Llucena, in the comarca of L'Alcalatén and also of ceramic tradition, sits at 568 metres of altitude on a hill between the Pedreñera ravine and the Lucena river, with steep, winding streets. Known as «the Pearl of the Muntanya», it owes the addition «del Cid» to the work of an 1863 statistical commission that sought surnames to distinguish the various Spanish villages called Lucena, without there being any real historical connection with Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. Its extensive and very broken municipal territory ranges from 340 metres by the Lucena river to over 1,380 near the Penyagolosa, a difference of more than a thousand metres covered in barely eleven kilometres among deep ravines. It preserves the castle-palace of the Ximénez de Urrea family, later passed to the Dukes of Híjar.
Monument
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Llucena, built between 1715 and 1739 in neoclassical style with Baroque influences; it preserves a crypt and a small museum of sacred art.
Activity
Llucena celebrates its patronal festival in late September and early October (always between 29 September and 1 October), in honour of San Miguel and San Hermolao, the town's patron saints.
Monument
The parish church of the Assumption of Llucena was built between 1715 and 1739 in Neoclassical style with Baroque overtones. It preserves its period altarpiece and façade, as well as a crypt, and houses the church's Museum of Goldsmithery, which brings together pieces of sacred art and paintings from different periods, one of the most notable religious complexes in the L'Alcalatén region.
Monument
The hermitage of Sant Antoni, with its characteristic dome of cobalt-blue glazed tiles, stands on a rocky spur overlooking the Barranc de la Pedrenyera, on the way out of Llucena towards Teruel. The current hermitage dates from 1785 and was built over an earlier one, since the confraternity of Sant Antoni de la Pedrenyera is known to have existed since the 13th century. It is a chapel with a polygonal floor plan, entered through an atrium of lowered semicircular arches. Next to it stands an old building that served as a blood hospital during the First Carlist War. In January, during the festivities of Sant Antoni, hymns of praise (goigs) are sung to the saint and processions are held between the hermitage and the church of Our Lady of the Ascension.
Monument
Hermitage of Sant Miquel de les Torrocelles, in the municipal district of Llucena (l'Alcalatén, Castellón). The building, of Arab origin, was later used by Christians for defensive purposes; today the hermitage and an old castle form a single complex, where the pilgrims of Les Useres make a stop. It is the old chapel of the castle that the Urrea family had built on the edges of their fiefdom to defend it against the Montesians (knights of the Order of Montesa). Every second Sunday of May a pilgrimage is held to the hermitage.
Nature
Trail known as “the pearl of the mountain” that runs past old water mills, orchards and farmhouses along the Lucena river. Among the mills that dot the district are the Mill of l'Assut, the Mill of Ros and the Mill of Goçalvo, along with watercourses such as the rambla de la Viuda and the ravines of Batlle, Gorgas and Casotes, tributaries of the Lucena river, and the spot known as el Salto del Caballo.
Monument
A Bien de Interés Cultural in Llucena linked to the noble house of the Dukes of Híjar, one of the municipality's main historic monuments along with its hermitages and viewpoints.
Monument
The central square of Llucena with arcades of medieval origin, around which the village's historic centre and its great 18th-century Baroque church are laid out.
Nature
A traditional natural bathing spot on the River Lucena where it passes Llucena, visible from the viewpoint on calle Metge Nebot beside the bridge on the Ruta dels Molins.
Monument
Former 18th-century granary located next to the Les Eres area, among historic streets such as La Solana in the centre of Llucena. Known as the Graner de l'Almodí, it stands near what is believed to have been the Era de la Vila (the village threshing floor), and was later used as a hospital.
Nature
Ravine overlooked by the hermitage of Sant Antoni, with its Baroque dome, one of the characteristic natural spots in the municipal district of Llucena.
Historical milestone
The town received in 1335 a settlement charter and its own fuero from the lords of Alcalatén, who thus recognized the weight reached by the settlement in the upper valley of the river Lucena, on the road towards the Penyagolosa.
Historical milestone
During the Carlist Wars, in the first half of the 19th century, Llucena sided with the Isabelinos and withstood several sieges in the heart of territory dominated by Ramón Cabrera; as a reward it received the title of Heroica Villa (Heroic Town), which it displays on its coat of arms.
Historical milestone
The municipality added to its name the surname of the Cid to distinguish itself from the other Lucenas of the country, although there is no documentary evidence that the Castilian warlord ever passed through this mountain town.
Food and drink
A stew of wild cardoon with pulses and pork products that makes use of a dry-farmed vegetable gathered on the terraces; together with rabbit with snails and the farinetas it defines the cooking of this mountain town.