Plaça de l´Església Vella
This tidy, small square once hosted the Saint Peter Fortified Church
This is one of the most beautiful and significant spots in Benissa: a secluded square that is used to host cultural events. The Fortified Church of Saint Peter once stood there. It was built in the 16th century for Christian worship, but it also had a clearly defensive purpose due to the frequent pirate raids that took place along the Mediterranean coastline at the time.
This was a very imposing building which was, in turn, erected upon the remains of a 14th-century Arab farmhouse. Its original appearance can be seen in the painted depiction on the ceramic tiles on one of the walls of the square. There is also a replica of the church’s main gate.
This old church was gradually abandoned and fell into disrepair after the opening of the new parish church devoted to the Puríssima Xiqueta in 1929. This ultimately led to its demolition in the early 1940’s.
A white marble monolith on one end of the square commemorates the one-thousandth anniversary of the town’s foundation, which was celebrated in 1987.
