Heritage Sites

The towns of El Maestrazgo and Matarranya are one of its main features, reminder of the prosperity and splendor of the past.

As we know them today, they owe their origin to the period of the Christian Reconquest and subsequent repopulation process. It was in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries when the old kingdom of Aragon secured its borders in the face of the Muslim danger of the neighbouring kingdom of Valencia. This strategy of advancing and of rapid occupation was put in the hands of the Military Orders –mainly the Temple-.

Finally, the mountainous character of the territory, and its difficult accesibility, form the basis of urban planning or town design, which has continued practically unchanged to our days:

• Places of great beauty set upon spurs or rocky shelves.
• Existence of a partially or totally walled perimeter.
• Urban network of narrow streets.
• Centrally-located parish churches – in the midst of the population – some of them monuments made into points of interest.
• Notable buildings, of later origin and styles –gothic, renaissance, baroque-.

Interesting Villages:

• Molinos
• Cuevas de Cañart
• Villarluengo
• La Cañada de Benatanduz
• Cantavieja
• Mirambel
• La Iglesuela del Cid
• Castellote
• Beceite
• Valderrobres
• A res del Maestre
• Peñiscola

Dry Stone: ancient style

A peculiar element of the region, and not only in the geological sense, stone and the way it has been used for centuries, has lent its name to a building style known as ''Piedra Seca'' (Dry Stone). It involves a system characterized by the use of stone without any type of mortar.

Among the most common structures, we can find the walls separating properties and land terracing. Stone huts or refuges are another singular and genuine element. Built by shepherds and farmers, they are the result of ability, constructiveness, necessity, and self-sufficiency.

Mudéjar. UNESCO Heritage

Mudejar art is an artistic style which was developed in the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, but which incorporates influences, elements or materials of Hispanic-Muslim style. It was an exclusively Hispanic phenomenon which took place between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, as a blending of the Christian (Romanesque, Gothic y Renaissance) and Muslim artistic tendencies of the time.

Some historians believe that it was an imitation of Islamic art and others think it was a period of Christian art in which islamic decoration appeared, as it was practiced by the Mudejars or moors, people of the Muslim religion and Arab culture who remained in the Christian kingdoms after the conquest of their territory, and, in exchange for a tax, kept their religion and their own legal status.

Particularly outstanding is the Mudejar architecture of the city of Teruel:

• Tower of the Savior and Tower of Saint Martin.
• Cathedral of Saint Mary and roof.
• Church of Saint Peter.

The reconciliation between Islam and Christianity is seen at its apex in Mudejar art.