MAEX: Museu Arqueològic i Etnològic de Xaló

When we have visitors, we always stop by the museum: a quick and enjoyable way to pass on a bit of the history of Xaló and the valley.

It’s a small museum, easy to fit alongside a coffee on the square or a Saturday-morning visit to the Rastro: open Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday mornings, 10am to 2pm, next to the MasyMas supermarket.

Everything on show came out of the ground here in Xaló. Entry is free, and between March and August MAEX also runs guided routes out to places you wouldn’t easily find on your own: a cave with prehistoric rock art, and a walk past the valley’s old water heritage, such as its wells and mills.

The museum sits in a modern concrete box. Not much to look at from the outside, but a surprise once you’re in, with a small green courtyard the exhibition is arranged around. On the right comes the valley’s history first, from prehistory to the Roman villa unearthed at Hortes, on the edge of the village. After that, the valley’s own trades: the dry-stone walls that still hold up its terraces, and the pansa, the sun-dried raisin that shaped the local economy for generations. At the back there’s a space for temporary exhibitions.