Biar

People have lived around Biar since prehistoric times, with the Bronze Age leaving the clearest mark — several archaeological sites survive, including the Cova del Cantal, Cabezo de les Gerres, and Cabezo Gordo, along with burial sites near the castle and Cova Negra.

After the Christian reconquest, the Muslim population was initially tolerated, but a revolt in 1276–1278 led to their expulsion. By 1280, Pedro III of Aragon was distributing land to Christian settlers in a document treated as the town's founding charter. Jaime I granted Biar notable privileges, including voting rights in the Courts of the Kingdom of Valencia from 1287 — rare for a town of its size.

Its position on the border with the powerful lordship of Villena, part of Castile, made Biar a strategic stronghold. The Latin phrase on its coat of arms — *Claudo et Aperio Regnum* ("I close and open the kingdom") — reflects that role. Pedro IV of Aragon promised never to detach the town from the Crown. Biar played a prominent part in the Germanies revolt and was fined 1,660 libras for it. During the War of Spanish Succession it held firm for Philip V, who rewarded it with the titles "very noble, loyal, and ever most faithful."

In 1884 a railway station opened, connecting Biar to Villena and later to Muro de Alcoy and Cieza. The line, nicknamed *La Chicharra*, ran until 1969; its old track is now the Vía Verde del Chicharra.

Biar's old town is a tight knot of steep, narrow lanes where most of the monuments are found. The castle, built in the twelfth century and declared a National Monument in 1931, crowns the hill and is visible from the whole valley; inside it preserves an Almohad vault considered one of the oldest of its kind in Spain. The medieval Puerta de Játiva — now called the Arco de San Roque — once admitted goods arriving from the Kingdom of Valencia.

A Gothic aqueduct from the fifteenth century carried irrigation water across the valley. Outside town, a stone pine known as the Pi de la Tosquera holds the widest canopy in the municipality, is the second tallest tree, and is listed among the Valencian Community's monumental trees.

A car is the most convenient way to reach Biar. Public transport is possible but requires planning. Subus runs one bus a day, Monday to Friday, between Villena and Biar: the departure from Villena is at 06:10, and the return from Biar is at approximately 15:45, reaching Villena around 16:00.

A current timetable is available at movilidad.vectalia.es. If the early bus doesn't work, a taxi from Villena train station to Biar takes about ten minutes and costs around €15. Once there, Biar is small enough to get around entirely on foot.