Juan Bautista Soler Blasco, the founder and eponymous first director, and Joaquim Bolufer Marqués, Ximo, who retired in July 2024, after 27 years as  director. Thanks to these two men´s passion and dedication, the patrimony of Xàbia has been preserved as a live entity. After all, the museum attracts 20,000–25,000 visitors every year !

 Soler Blasco, whose mother was from Xàbia ( Calle Santa Lucia ) and whose father was from Albaida, was born in Gandia in 1920. Soon after, the family moved to Barcelona, where Soler Blasco attended school and then studied art. He later moved with his parents to Castellón, where he spent most of his young adult life. He became an acclaimed artist. His Impressionistic paintings were exhibited in many towns and cities, including San Sebastián, Bilbao, Alicante, Córdoba, Granada, Madrid, Castellón and Montpellier to name a few, and were also sold at auction. As he himself wrote in his curriculum : he painted whatever was in front of him : portraits, landscapes, marinas, murals, frescoes, book illustrations. He also painted alterpieces. 
(In Xàbia, he painted the alterpiece of the Agustinas chapel and that of the Ermita del Pópul on the Jesús Pobre road. There is also a mural painted by him in the „Surco“, a former school that has now been converted into the music school. Furthermore, the museum has a set of his paintings, depicting daily life in Xàbia. There is currently a very interesting exhibition of his work in the museum, organised by the present director, Josep Castello Mari, which connects the contents of the paintings to traditional Xàbiero life. The exhibition ends on 31 August.)

In 1956, Blasco and his wife, whom he married in 1937, moved to Xàbia.  He became actively involved in the town and developed a keen interest in its history and heritage. Over the years, he gathered a large group of young people around him, imparting his passion for Xàbia's past to them. Together, they collected everything they could find relating to the past. They amassed such a large quantity of artefacts that the idea of a permanent place to keep and exhibit them gradually emerged. In 1975, Blasco became mayor of the town and initiated the acquisition of the Casa-Palacio de Banyuls by the town hall, with the intention of housing a museum and a library there. The museum was inaugurated on 20 February 1977. As Blasco was not a specialist, the collection was not always catalogued nor presented professionally, but thanks to his passion, a lot was salvaged that might otherwise have been lost forever!

Ximo Bolufer, whose father was from Benitachell and whose mother was from Valencia, grew up in Valencia. After completing his schooling there, he went on to study history with a specialisation in archaeology at the universities of Barcelona and Valencia from 1976 to 1981. At that time, archaeology was not offered as a subject in its own right. He undertook further studies in Alicante from 1990 to 1992. As an archaeologist, he has directed or been involved in numerous excavations throughout the province of Valencia and the Balearic Islands. He has participated in many national and international congresses, seminars, and symposiums and has written abundantly for local and scientific magazines. His extensive knowledge of the region's history and archaeology has established him as a leading authority.

Ximo was first employed as the town archaeologist by the Xàbia Town Hall from 1985 to 1987. His work focused primarily on the Séquia de la Noria and the cataloguing of the museum's artefacts. He was appointed director of the museum in 1997. He has played a key role in revitalising the museum and maintaining its appeal for all visitors. He has modernised the way exhibits are displayed by using interactive technology and placing panels to improve accessibility for children and tourists. He has developed educational programmes and published pamphlets for children, as well as offering workshops aimed at engaging children, locals and tourists in the rich history of Xàbia. He contributed to the former museum magazine Xabiga and is the creator of the annual publication Quaderns del Museu, which has been published since 2017 and focuses on a different aspect of Xàbia's history in each edition. He also organised exhibitions in the museum, that attracted many visitors.

Ximo initiated many new excavations, including those at the caves of Montgo and Portitxol. He worked tirelessly to preserve structures from various past eras, including hydraulic structures (watering systems), houses, grain pits, towers and ceramics. He also encouraged underwater excavations in the Portitxol bay, where many amphorae and anchors were found, as well as a few sunken ships. Ximo has also contributed to contextualising these finds within the historical framework of ancient maritime commerce.

In 2011, a small group of friends, interested in making the museum more accessible to foreigners, approached Ximo offering him their collaboration, which Ximo happily accepted. Thus was born the Association of the Friends of the Museum (AMUX), which has grown to almost 150 members and is very active in keeping the memory of the past alive through conferences, talks, walks and excursions, all of which focus on local and regional history.

Both Ximo Bolufer and his predecessor Soler Blasco approached their work with heart and soul. Ximo had the academic training and the expertise that Soler Blasco lacked. Without these two figures, Xàbia's museum would not play the dynamic role it does today. Thanks to them, Xàbia can be proud of its museum, and the memory of the past is kept alive.
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Wednesday, 11 June, 7 p.m. Conference room, Soler Blasco Museum
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In the summer of 2021, two young swimmers made a lucky discovery while diving in the waters of Portitxol — eight gold coins dating back to the late 4th and early 5th centuries AD. The following day, they brought the coins to the Xàbia Museum. These solidus coins, minted during the reigns of various Roman emperors, marked the beginning of what has become one of the most significant archaeological finds in the region.
Since then, ongoing excavations and research have uncovered hundreds more coins, greatly expanding the scope of the discovery.

In this presentation, we will share the progress of the archaeological work conducted to date and explore the most important aspects of this exceptional treasure.

In fact, it only began in 1978, on a very small scale. Over the years, it has grown into a spectacular pageant with beautiful fancy costumes. Although celebrating historical facts, the event is more of an excuse for another celebration and a tourist attraction.

For the true origins of this fiesta we have to go back to Alcoy in the year 1276 and the figure of al-Azraq, a Moorish vizir. But first, to set the scene, here is a very brief history of Muslim Al-Andalus. 
From the seventh century, the Islamic empire, with its capital in Damascus, spread rapidly across North Africa. The Umayyad caliphate sought to expand into Europe, and in 711 AD, Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed over to what is now Gibraltar. (Incidentally, the name given by the Arabs was „Jabal Tariq“ (Mount of Tariq), in honor of this conquering commander, which was later pronounced as Gibraltar). The  key event for the conquest of the Christian Visigoth kingdom was the victory at the Battle of Guadalete (711). After this, Muslim forces expanded rapidly across the Iberian Peninsular. By 719 AD almost the entire peninsula was under their control. Only a small strip in the north was never conquered. They established Al-Andalus as a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, with Cordoba as its capital.
When the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasids in Damascus in 756,  they fled to their province of Al-Andalus and severed ties with Damascus to become an independent emirate. Abd-al-Rahman became the first emir of Córdoba. Almost 200 years later it was declared a caliphate.

With weak rulers in the 11th century, the caliphate collapsed in 1031, giving way to many independent kingdoms -taifas- ruled by local nobles, each vying for power. This made it easier for the small Christian kingdoms in the north to reclaim land and gradually, over a century, they moved south. The Berber Almoravids from Morocco tried to unite the Muslim kingdoms. Their decisive defeat of the Castilian forces at the Battle of Zallaqa (Sagrajas) in 1086 consolidated their control of southern Iberia and halted the Christian advance for a time.
But Muslim discontent eventually led to the downfall of the Almoravids and another powerful North African dynasty, the more puritanical Almohads (1147-1212) succeded for a time in uniting the Muslim forces against the Christians.
The Nasrid dynasty (1212-1492) was the last Muslim dynasty to rule in Al-Andalus. They established the Emirate of Granada in 1238 and were surrounded by territory that had been reconquered by the Christian forces. They survived only through diplomatic negotiations and a system of tribute payments. There were also a number of other small Moslem kingdoms and valiates that still existed, dependent on Granada. The fall of Granada on 2 January 1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in the peninsula.

Now back to al-Azraq. His name was Abu Abd Allah Muhammed ibn Hudhayl, the blue-one, as his nickname al-Azraq suggests, referring either to his blue eyes or perhaps to his turban. We do not know too much about him. A lot of what we do know comes from the chronicle „El Llibre dels Fets“, written by his victor, James I of Aragon. It is believed that he was born somewhere between 1218 and 1220. He could have come from the Hud family, linked to the kingdom of Murcia or from the Yemenite line of Hudayl, established in Orihuela. He was probably born in the castle of al-Qal’a (Arabic for fortress/castle), the residence of his father, the visir of the small valiate in the mountains of Valencia. The ruins of the castillo can still be seen near the village of Alcalá de la Jovada, which did not exist at the time. After his father´s death in 1230 he became visir. He maintained good relations with both Muslim and Christian rulers, but when the Christian leaders committed massive injustices against the Muslim population, he was a brave leader of the revolt having much military experience. In 1244, when Denia and Xàtiva fell to the Christians, he became even more dependent on treaties with the enemy, although these were always to his disadvantage. With the feudal armies of Jaume I conquering Moorish territory at a rapid pace, al-Azraq was obliged to sign a pact (Pacto del Pouet) in 1244, perhaps to buy time to obtain help from the Emir of Tunis or Granada, help that never came. It was a pact for 3 years, after which he was to give up all his territory, except for the Castillos of al-Qal’a and Perpuxent. Possibly provoked by his enemies, he broke the pact towards the end and resisted in the mountains of Valencia for the next 14 years, still hoping for help from his allies. It seems that one of his advisors betrayed him, in 1258, leading to his capture and subsequent exile. He probably went to Granada, where the emir was a relative. Nothing is known of him for the next 18 years, until 1276, when he returned to lead once again the rebellions that had been raging in the mountains for some time.

​During his exile his people suffered many injustices : arbitrary confiscation of property, tax disadvantages, persecution, plundering, kidnapping. This led to the rebellions, which were undoubtedly fuelled by the victory of the Muslim troops of Granada and their Marinid allies over the Castilian armies at the Battle of Écija (1275). With 250 horsemen and 1200 footmen, joined by hundreds of locals, al-Azraq marched to attack Alcoy in May 1276. During the battle, in front of the ramparts of the town, al-Azraq was mortally wounded. With his death the rebellion lost its momentum. For the people of Alcoy this was cause for great celebration. The fiesta has a long tradition in this town, although in a different form to the one we know today. It began to take on its present form in the 15th and 16th centuries.

This fiesta was declared of International Tourist Interest by the Spanish government in 1980 and has become a reference for many other towns in our region, including Xàbia. Here it is celebrated on the third weekend of July and lasts 9 days. It is a highlight in the town´s calender of events that should not be missed. A spectacular experience for locals and tourists alike.

Main source of information : AL-AZRAQ El visir que soñaba la Montaña by Just I. Sellés

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Molí d’en Gavilà