Onda

People have lived in and around Onda since at least the Neolithic period, though the first substantial traces — mainly ceramic remains — are Iberian. Under Greek influence the settlement was called Sepelacon, with stable communities on the hill where the castle now stands and at a site called Torrelló. Roman rule brought a new name, Sepelaci, and the Torrelló was abandoned as the castle hill became the main nucleus; five Latin inscriptions, bridge remains on the Mijares river, and a stretch of Roman road all survive from this era. There is evidence of Visigothic presence, though it was not permanent.

The town as it exists today grew from a Muslim settlement established at the start of the millennium. Onda was walled and became a significant urban centre across the following centuries. The Cid took it in 1090, but it returned to Al-Andalus in 1102. Jaime I of Aragon reconquered it around 1242 and granted Onda its founding charter — the Carta Puebla — on 28 April 1248. From that point Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived in the town in distinct quarters: Christians inside the walls, a Jewish neighbourhood around the Portal de Valencia, and Muslims, expelled from within the walls after a 1248 revolt, in a district just outside called the Morería.

Onda passed through the hands of the Order of the Hospital from 1280, then to the Order of Montesa in 1319. Conflicts over criminal jurisdiction with that order ran for decades until the townspeople bought it back and returned it to King Juan I in 1393. The town sided with the Crown during the Germanies revolt of 1519–1522, and in 1526 served as headquarters for the Duke of Segorbe and 3,000 imperial lansquenets under Wilhelm von Roggendorf during operations against Moorish rebels in the Sierra de Espadán.

The most prominent church is the Iglesia de la Asunción, a baroque structure begun in 1727 on the site of earlier buildings, themselves raised over the town's original main mosque. It holds two notable altarpieces: the Retablo de San Antonio y Santa Bárbara (1558) by Juan de Juanes, and the Retablo de las Almas from the early period, attributed to the Maestro de Cabanyes. The church has two facade doorways, one dated 1753 and the main entrance dated 1854.

The Iglesia de la Sangre, also known as the Iglesia de Santa Margarita, was built by the Templars in the second half of the thirteenth century — the first church constructed in Onda after the Reconquest. Its Gothic arcaded portico of semicircular arches leads into a single nave with a Mudejar coffered ceiling and pointed arches.

Several smaller chapels and hermitages add to the picture. The Ermita de Santa Bárbara sits on a hill in the foothills of the Montí; its doorway bears the date 1697, though written records of the site go back to 1430, so that date likely marks a reconstruction. The Capilla de San Vicente Ferrer has a central-plan layout with a half-orange dome, Corinthian pilasters, frescos on its pendentives, and a distinctive blue glazed ceramic tile roof. The Capilla de San José is similarly domed, with baroque plasterwork, angel figures, and blue-and-white tile dados. The Ermitorio de El Salvador, dedicated to Onda's patron saint, features a devotional ceramic panel on its facade by the ceramicist Ismael Mundina and includes a small hostelry. Of the former Convento de Santa Catalina, only the hermitage of Santa Catalina and the Calvary chapel remain standing.