We might imagine that in ancient times the Priorat region was a rather empty and desolate place, but the reality wasn't quite like that.

In the 8th century BC, in the municipality of El Molar and its surroundings, one could speak of a high density of occupation, as on either side of the Siurana River, there were two settlements of (possibly) a hundred inhabitants each. The first, in our municipality, was El Calvari, and the second, on the other bank, was Puig Roig del Roget.

As we can imagine, and following the long and time-honoured tradition of neighbourly relations, there must have existed a little rivalry between the two villages.

These push-and-pull relationships, loves and hates and, above all, coexistence, take us through a long history that began with the first human settlements in the 7th century BC and was built, over the years, with the passage of the Romans through our lands, the conflict between Arabs and Christians and the Christian “reoccupation”, the foundation of a settlement of scattered farmhouses which, over the years, became a town, El Molar's role as a mining centre, a space for industrialisation and the arrival of modernity, and the terrible passage of the Civil War.

XXX centuries of history and stories, many of them still waiting to be discovered, which shape the soul of a unique people: El Molar.

Maria Garcia Barberà