Montesa

The site has been occupied since before recorded history, with Iberian pottery and a small fired-clay horse figurine found nearby, and Roman-era stonework later reused in the castle walls. The castle itself is documented from 935, during the Islamic period. In 1248, after King Jaume I traded Montesa and Vallada to a Moorish lord in exchange for part of Xàtiva's castle, the caïd and his family moved here—until 1277, when King Pere III conquered the town. Alfonso III granted it a settlement charter in 1289, bringing Christian settlers to what had been a dangerous frontier zone.

The town's defining moment came in 1317, when Jaume II founded the Order of Montesa here as a replacement for the dissolved Knights Templar in the Kingdom of Valencia, making the castle a seat of real power. By the mid-16th century the surrounding land produced wheat, barley, silk, oil, carob and honey on a considerable scale. Then came a long decline, interrupted by the War of Succession in the early 18th century, and ended catastrophically by earthquakes on 23 March and 2 April 1748—measuring IX–X on the Mercalli scale—after which the town's population had shrunk to around 200 households. Slow recovery followed through the 19th and 20th centuries.

The castle is Montesa's principal monument, with traces of use stretching back to the Bronze Age. Its most significant period began in 1319, when the newly founded Order of Montesa took possession and built a fortified monastery within the walls—church, chapter house, refectory and a rebuilt circuit wall, all directed by Master Pere de Tous between 1327 and 1374. Later masters added a cloister, a dormitory and a chapel of San Jorge. The 1748 earthquake destroyed the complex; the Order relocated to Valencia, and the ruins were sold off around 1868. The castle has been municipal property since 1970, and carries national heritage protection dating from 1926.

The parish church was built between 1693 and 1702 to designs by Juan Aparicio, who also worked on the lateral doorways of Xàtiva's collegiate church. Inside are two 17th-century altarpieces, painted panels of the same period showing the Crucifixion, and a 1744 organ—the only surviving instrument of that period in the province of Valencia.

Three smaller chapels complete the picture. The Ermita de la Santa Cruz, a simple barrel-vaulted building on a hilltop, gives wide views over the valley. The Ermita del Calvario, built in the early 18th century, has a dome on pendentives and a polygonal apse. The Ermita de San Sebastián is documented from 1558, retains ceramic plaques from the second half of the 17th century and wall drawings dated 1623, with a roof rebuilt in 1907. There is also a former convent of San Vicente de Paúl, reformed in 1891 and used by a religious community until 1980, which preserves a double staircase and a stone-paved courtyard with a well.