Cocentaina: Historic Buildings and Routes

Explore Cocentaina through several historical highlights: its former fortifications, churches and palace architecture, museums and routes, and the Serra de Mariola Natural Park. When planning your trip, you can focus on architectural history, exhibitions or the landscape. Each attraction tells a different part of the town’s history.

City Walls and Routes Through History

Until the 18th century, the medieval city wall had an irregular quadrilateral shape and a perimeter of more than one kilometre. To the east and south, the natural ravines Barranc del Sord and Barranc de Santa Bàrbara formed its boundaries. The Ruta de la Muralla de Cocentaina follows the former course of the fortifications. Nine information panels, marked signs and references to former city gates make the route a walk through the history of the fortifications. As signage may be updated, follow the markers on site.

Another route leads to Paraje de Santa Bàrbara. The walk there is short from town and easy to find. As local trail conditions can change, it is a good idea to check conditions before your visit.

Palau Comtal and Historic Collections

The Palau Comtal permanently displays artworks from the 14th to the 19th century, as well as archaeological remains found in the palace. The first construction phase of the Palau Comtal may date to the late 13th or early 14th century. The building thus brings together a cautiously dated history of its origins and collections from several later centuries.

The Casa Museo Festero offers a focus of its own: its exhibits include festive clothing, a monographic exhibition about Gustavo Pascual, the composer of the pasodoble “Paquito el Chocolatero,” and bladed weapons from around the world and from different periods. Exhibitions may be updated. Visitors interested in festive culture, music history or historical weapons will find different subjects under one roof.

The Museo Arqueológico del Comtat is housed in a building dating from the mid-13th century. It was remodelled in the 15th century and completely renovated in the 18th century in the style of a bourgeois home. The ethnology room presents the traditional cultivation of wheat, olives and grapes, as well as the artisanal production of flour, oil and wine. The exhibition thus illustrates both agricultural produce and how it was processed.

Churches and Fortifications

The Iglesia del Salvador was built at the end of the 16th century over an earlier mosque that had been converted into a church in 1530. Its single-nave layout is divided into four sections with chapels and follows Renaissance design principles. At the Iglesia de Santa Maria, archaeological remains near the main façade and traces of an old cemetery outside the side façade have been preserved. The two churches therefore offer different points of interest: the Salvador for its architectural form and earlier history, and Santa Maria for its visible archaeological traces.

The surviving interior spaces of the Convento de los Franciscanos bring together Renaissance and Baroque elements. Castillo de Cocentaina, by contrast, is a square, two-storey Gothic defensive tower dating from the late 13th or early 14th century. Its site is 765 metres above sea level. From the access road, a path leads to a plateau at the foot of the tower; it can be reached via a trail along the slope. Trail conditions can change, so allow some flexibility for conditions on site.

Castillo de Penella features a 15-metre-high main tower built against the castle wall. The castle dates from the late 13th century. Together with Cocentaina’s defensive tower, it showcases two historic fortifications, each with a specifically described architectural form.

Landscape and Cycling Route

The Serra de Mariola Natural Park is shared by Cocentaina and other towns in the comarcas of l’Alcoià, El Comtat and Vall d’Albaida. This shared setting also gives the destination a connection to the landscape beyond the town itself. For a different perspective on the area, a cycling route between Cocentaina and l’Alqueria d’Asnar passes through l’Alcúdia de Cocentaina, a settlement belonging to Cocentaina, before reaching l’Alqueria d’Asnar. As cycling conditions can change, check them before setting out.

Discover more destinations: Beniarbeig, Pego, Las Virtudes, Tàrbena, Els Poblets, Villena, Gaianes, Los Arenales Del Sol

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