Almoster

Almoster is located at the foot of the last spurs of the mountains of Prades, under the mountain d'en Cama. The area has an elongated, narrow shape, getting half strangled with La Selva del Camp borders to the north-east and east, L'Aleixar in the north-east, Castellvell del Camp in the south-west, and Reus to the south. The upper end is very rugged and reaches 645m above sea level; the lowest points are 140m, and 290m at the foot of the Town Hall.

 

History

Neolithic remains have been found in the area on the masías and in the Picarany ravine, plus tombs and Roman amphorae in the Pontarró, some of them have been reconstructed in the museum of Reus. These findings show the presence of Roman villas.

There are some discrepancies regarding the birth of the village’s name, but what is certain is that in 1164, the stream of Mosterio had already been named, contained in the letter of town of La Selva del Camp of 1164. Other authors present Arabic origin (Al-Munastir), equivalent to the convent border or Mozarabic word, and therefore before the Frankish conquest.

In the medieval period, Almoster had a Jewish community. It was also a walled village, but only the names of three gates remain as witnesses of that time. Historically, people had to go to Reus to baptise their babies, but with the population growing through the sixteenth century, on April 16th 1573 the archbishop Gaspar Cervantes de Gaeta allowed a baptismal font in the church. Like many other towns in the region, Almoster belonged to the Commune of the Camp since 1547 and at least until August 1710. In 1717, the documents speak of the existence of three noblemen in the village. In the nineteenth century, there was a sharp drop in population, probably attributable to phylloxera. In 1854, more land was incorporated from L'Albiol.

 

Places to visit

The parish church of Sant Miquel

Finished in 1704, the church lost its heritage altar-pieces during the Civil War. The most important of these was the altar of St. Peter, by Boniface. From the ornamentation of the former church the only remain is a Baroque panel by San Isidro. The church has one nave with chapels connecting with each other.

Manor houses

There are several houses with voussoir - wedge-shaped stone-blocks that form arches and vaults. Among the most important are at Cal Victor, with the air of a masía, and Cal Llompart, with Renaissance balconies.

The masías

Scattered throughout the area there are several masías, mostly very old. Outstanding amongst them is Mas de Carreras, which Madoz already distinguished as an important hacienda in the mid-nineteenth century, the Mas de Picarany, owned by the poet Gabriel Ferrater’s family from Reus, and the Mas de Víctor. The latter was owned by Josep Rosselló Marti, industrialist and Mayor of Reus.