MARQ doors open this Tuesday to mark the International Day for Monuments and Sites as the Provincial Council of Alicante and the CV MARQ Foundation invite visitors to discover a select group of historic landmarks. The open day highlights the rich cultural and archaeological heritage of Alicante province, inviting residents and travelers to explore multiple sites in one immersive experience.
Under the banner legacy in transformation, the event offers free access to restored monuments supported by Diputación de Alicante. The day emphasizes the power of applied methodology and modern technology in the preservation and sustainable development of architectural and cultural heritage for communities today and tomorrow.
The open day will operate during regular hours: Lucentum in Alicante and La Illeta dels Banyets in Campello from 10:00 to 14:00 and 15:30 to 17:30; the Almohad tower of Almudaina from 10:00 to 13:00; and Cava Gran de Agres with a free visit subject to the regulations of the Serra de Mariola Natural Park.
Tossal de Manises hosts the Roman city of Lucentum, an ancient urban center unearthed near the historic core of Alicante. The site blends Iberian and Roman layers, offering a window into the early urban development that shaped the region. Illeta dels Banyets, in El Campello, forms a historic connection between the coastline and the land. Once a peninsula, an ancient earthquake reshaped the shore, and in 1943 it was rejoined to the mainland to create a natural breakwater. Today it stands as a celebrated archaeological site and a vivid memory of coastal history in the province.
Its rescue by the Alicante Provincial Council and the declaration of the Torre de Almudaina as a Monument of Cultural Interest-BIC in August 2009 elevated it to a major cultural resource, effectively transforming the site into a kind of open-air museum. Constructed in the first half of the 13th century, this alarm tower is one of several farmstead defenses built in the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula just before the Christian conquest, and it offers a tangible link to medieval military architecture and regional history.
Cava Gran de Agres carries a singular significance due to its iconic role in the Sierra de Mariola landscape. Once a bustling storage and trading site tied to the snow industry, it stands today as a remarkable example of industrial heritage. The province of Alicante hosts a remarkable density of these structures, many perched in the higher zones of the Sierra de Mariola. Purchased by the Provincial Council in 2008 to ensure preservation and restoration, the site has been accessible to the public since 2016 as a site museum. Visitors are invited to appreciate its architecture and the surrounding landscape while gaining insight into the history of ice production and storage that shaped regional life for centuries.