Ares del Maestrat

Human presence in Ares del Maestrat goes back to prehistory, evidenced by Levantine rock paintings at Cueva Remigia. The rocky outcrop that later became the castle site also had an Iberian settlement, and Roman stones with inscriptions have turned up in the bell tower of the Gothic town hall, suggesting a Roman presence as well.

The town was later developed, fortified, and enlarged by Muslim rulers before Alfonso II took it in 1170. Pedro II of Aragon issued the first settlement charter, and Jaume I completed the reconquest in 1232. Two years later the town passed to the Knights Templar, becoming the head of one of their commanderies. When the Templar order was dissolved by papal decree, Ares transferred to the Order of Montesa, its successor in the Kingdom of Valencia.

In May 1938, during the Spanish Civil War, Nazi German aircraft bombed Ares along with the nearby towns of Benasal, Albocácer, and Vilar de Canes. The raids were used to test the Stuka Junkers Ju 87 dive-bomber. Thirty-eight people were killed.

The castle sits on a high rock above the village, its walls showing Arab-era construction and traces of earlier Iberian occupation. Below it, the building now serving as the town hall — known as Torre Beltrans or Els Perxes — was originally a Gothic civil exchange built over the old Arab walls. It contains a Chapter Room where the Templars once met, and a portico with Gothic-Mudejar arches. The parish church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, has a Baroque façade; the previous church was burned by the troops of Felipe V during the War of Succession in 1707. Its bell tower sits lower than the church itself, an unusual arrangement. A former jail also survives and may have been connected to Templar initiation rites. Older sections of the Arab walls with their gateways still stand in the old quarter.

Outside the village, the Barranco dels Molins holds five water mills with their collection pools and channel systems — a rare example of pre-industrial hydraulic engineering. Ares also has several natural areas: the Muela de Ares is the most significant local landscape feature, while the Barranco dels Horts is a flora microreserve sheltering an ancient oak forest with a spring. Prehistoric rock art appears across the wider municipal area, in shelters at the Barranco de la Gasulla, Cueva Remigia, Racó Gasparo, Racó Molero, Barrancos de les Dogues, Mas Blanc, and the Abrigo del Molí Darrer.