Village
Ares del Maestrat is a municipality of L'Alt Maestrat, in the province of Castellón, at the foot of the Mola d'Ares, 1,315 metres high, with 181 inhabitants who live from livestock farming and agriculture. The village sits on a promontory crowned by the ruins of a castle of Iberian origin that served as a watchtower and as an active stage in its history: fortified by the Muslims, it was reconquered in 1170 by Alfonso II and definitively in 1232 by Jaime I, and in 1234 it passed to the Order of the Temple, ending up under the Order of Montesa after the dissolution of the Templars. In the Cueva Remigia, cave paintings of Levantine Rock Art are preserved. During the Civil War, in May 1938, the German air force bombed the town, with a toll of 38 dead.
Monument
Parish church of la Asunción in Ares del Maestrat, with an 18th-century Baroque façade: it was rebuilt after the previous one was burned by the troops of Felipe V during the War of the Spanish Succession, with a 13th-century bell tower lower than the church itself.
Nature
The mola d'Ares is a mountain 1,323 metres high that dominates the landscape of Ares del Maestrat, one of the most notable in the comarca of l'Alt Maestrat. It lies within the eastern sector of the Iberian System and has a tabular shape, bordered by large cliffs, similar to other mountains in the area such as the mola del Vilar, from which it is separated only by the coll d'Ares. It has a drop of about 500 metres to the south, above the river Montlleó, and a more moderate one to the north. The town of Ares sits on its southern face, dominated by the castle of Ares, on a rocky pinnacle. Nearby is preserved the Nevera dels Regatxols, a 16th-century square-plan snow well, in good condition, which today houses a museum of the old Valencian trade in snow and ice.
Activity
The festival of Ares del Maestrat in honour of Santa Elena and San Bartolomé.
Activity
The hermitage of Santa Elena, to which Ares del Maestrat goes in procession on the first Sunday of May, stands at the farmhouse of the same name, about five kilometres from the village and around 1,000 metres of altitude. Its construction, funded by donations of wool and wheat from local residents, was completed in 1763, the year of its first mass, and the works continued until 1773 with the addition of the side porches, a shelter for pilgrims and their mounts. It suffered severe damage during the Civil War, which burned its interior, and was restored at the end of the 20th century. In rural Baroque style, its façade shows a stone doorway with the carved relief of Santa Elena. The patronal festivals in August are dedicated jointly to Santa Elena and St Bartholomew.
Monument
El Perxe de Ares del Maestrat, also called the Llotja or the town hall, is a building with Gothic arcades and Mudéjar elements located next to the Plaza Mayor, listed as a Bien Inmueble de Relevancia Local (a local-heritage listed building in Spain). According to the architect Enric Llop, it was built between 1295 and 1318 on an Arab fort destroyed in 1232, and the hall was raised from 1318 as the Chapter Hall of the Order of the Temple, later passing to the Order of Montesa. After successive armed conflicts it was rebuilt and turned into the seat of the town hall in 1786, when the arch linking it to the Plaza de la Iglesia through the town wall was opened. During the Middle Ages it held the weekly market, and in the 19th century it even housed a butcher's shop, remains of which are still preserved.
Nature
Rock shelter with more than 750 Levantine rock art paintings, included in the World Heritage listing of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.
Monument
The Barranc dels Molins, in the municipality of Ares del Maestrat, is an ethnological site that preserves a group of five water mills from the 17th and 18th centuries, evidence of the town's traditional flour-milling activity. It was listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 2009, a protection that also covers the Font dels Regatxols spring and the adjoining wash-house. The five mills can be visited along the local Camí dels Molins trail, signposted as SL-CV 45, and one of them, the Molí del Sol de la Costa, has been restored as a museum and interpretation centre for the ravine.
Historical milestone
James I won in 1232 the fortress of Ares shortly after the fall of Morella, in the first campaign of the conquest of the Kingdom of Valencia; the castle later passed to the Templars and, once the order was dissolved, to that of Montesa.
Food and drink
A stew of pulses, vegetables, potato and pork products that was cooked slowly on the hearth of the farmsteads; on the same table are served lamb chops with allioli, rabbit with snails and curd.