What to see in Agost

Agost is an inland village 18 kilometres west of Alicante, tucked between the Sierra del Ventós and the Maigmó mountains, whose identity is bound up almost entirely with pottery. The craft is documented here since the 13th century: the town's name already appears in a 1252 privilege issued by Alfonso X, and by around 1277 its ceramic production was well-known enough to appear in period records.

History

The original settlement occupied the "Castellet de la Murta," an Andalusian-era fortification inhabited between the 9th and 13th centuries; after the Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266, residents moved to the current site atop a hill. The potters' trade was formally organised in 1822 with the founding of the first craft guild, and its output — water jugs, jars, storage pots — spread from 1858 onward thanks to the Madrid-Alicante railway line, which carried Agost pottery as far as Barcelona, northern Spain and even Cuba and North Africa.

What to see

The Pottery Museum occupies a former ceramics factory that opened in 1902 and closed in 1975, converted into a museum in 1981 and renovated between 2007 and 2014; it preserves Arab-style kilns, clay settling pools and the original workshop, along with a collection of more than 4,500 pieces. Close by, several traditional pottery workshops are still active and welcome visitors who want to watch the wheel at work. In the town centre, the church of Sant Pere Apòstol and the hermitage of Les Santes Justa i Rufina round out the village's religious heritage.

Agost also keeps up a lively musical tradition, with two rival bands founded in 1895 and 1978 that have won international awards, and its own festive custom in the "Danzas del Rey Moro," danced between 26 December and 1 January. The surrounding landscape of olive groves, almond trees and table-grape vineyards has served as a filming location on several occasions over the decades. Given how close it sits to the capital, Agost makes for an easy short trip from Alicante, pairing the museum with a walk through the old quarter. The municipality, which had barely 1,715 residents in 1715, grew steadily through the 20th century and today counts around 5,200 people. Its dry farmland landscape has also served as a film set on more than one occasion, including for "Return of the Seven" in 1966 — a reminder of how the area's sun-baked terrain has long attracted location scouts looking for a rugged backdrop.