Last year a travelling exhibition of the Islamic castles of the Marina Alta was produced by members of AMUX (the Friends of the Museum of Xàbia association). This was done with support from the Xàbia museum and the Department of Culture. The exhibition was shown in the Xàbia Museum and is now travelling to the towns of Orba, Benissa and Ontinyent.

The display panels are packed with information, but there was only enough room for one language. The regional official language, Valenciano, was therefore used for the text. Captions for photographs, plans and diagrams were given in Valenciano, Castellano and English. Texts in Castellano and English were provided in separate booklets.

Members of AMUX were aware of the interest shown by visitors who cannot read Valenciano, so we decided to put the information on the AMUX website in all three languages in a way which is easily accessible to everyone, including those who cannot get to see the live exhibition.

The virtual exhibition can be found on the AMUX Website ( http://amuxabia.weebly.com/) . From the main menu click Projectes / Expo-Castells Andalusins.

There are three separate language sections. For each language there is a web page for each of the thirteen wall panels illustrated with a selection of photos, plans and diagrams. In addition, people can download a PDF file of the original panel to view more illustrations.

As an added bonus PDF files of the Castellano and English texts in booklet form can be downloaded and the English
section also includes a glossary.

​The authors of the exhibition, Joaquim Bolufer, Josep Castelló and Chris Betterton-Jones are now working on a guide for people who wish to visit these little-known relics of Islamic Spain in the Marina Alta.  

Regretfully we have to tell you that we have to cancel the excursion to Castell de Castells that was planned for the 20th of March. We cannot visit the museum because the renovation works that are being carried out to the building at the moment have unexpectedly been prolonged without a definite end date. We hope to rearrange the excursion for later in the year. Our apologies for this inconvenience.
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9:30h:
BUS STATION XÀBIA, leaving for an approximately one hour drive to Castell de Castells
11:00h:
Visit to the museum of Castell de Castells, where we will be shown an overview of the village, it’s history and it’s culture. The museum is situated in a traditional house, with on the ground floor an ethnographical collection and on the first floor the special room for Rock Art. In this room we can see two audio visual displays, one about the dissemination of the Neolithic from the Middle East and the other specifically about the rock paintings at the Sanctuary of Pla de Petracos, which will give us a lot of information prior to our visit.
13:00h:
Lunch in a local restaurant.
After lunch the bus will take us to the site of the Sanctuary of Pla de Petracos, which is close to the village. The walk to the rock shelters is not difficult, but there is a short steep passage of about 20 m leading to the protective fence of the shelters.
“PLA DE PETRACOS: a sanctuary, a place of encounter and cult”.
The Sanctuary of Pla de Petracos is one of the most spectacular examples in Europe of Macro schematic art and has been declared Site of Cultural Interest and Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. It is part of the 1000 kilometer long chain of coastal sites along the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula and gives a very good and lively picture of human life in this important period of our history. But it is not only the beautiful graphics, it seems that these cave shelters were selected especially because of the specific acoustics, which influenced the location, usage, style and subject matter of the paintings. It would be nice to see if we could experience some of these acoustics ourselves.
16:30h:
Return to Xàbia.
More information here: http://amuxabia.weebly.com/pla-de-petracos.html

​Depending on the number of people who join the excursion, we will try to arrange the tour in the museum to be given in both Castellano and English.
The costs for the excursion are:
€ 30,00 for members
€ 35,00 for non members.


You can register and pay at the Museum or register online by sending an e-mail to amuxabia@gmail.com and paying by bank on account number ES11 2100 2735 1501 0033 8307 (La Caixa).
Please add your name and member number and “CASTELL DE CASTELLS”.
The registration will be valid only after reception of the payment, which must be made before Friday March 11.