Almoster is a village in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarr ...

and

autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, Spain. According to the 2008 census, its population was of 1,339 inhabitants.

Location

Almoster is located to the south of Catalonia and north of Tarragona. Its situation in the country is in the northeast of Spain. It is located 4 km from

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is kno ...

, 19 km from

and 110 km from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Geography and climate

Almoster's terraine is rugged in the north due to the presence of mountains that are a buttress of the

Prades Mountains Prades Mountains, also known as Muntanyes de Prades, is a large calcareous mountain massif straddling the comarcas of Alt Camp, Baix Camp, Conca de Barberà, Garrigues and Priorat, in Catalonia, Spain. They are a Site of Community Importance. Th ...

. All the terraine belongs to the pre-coastal range. The highest point of the town center is 320 m above sea level, the parish church of San Miguel, is located at an altitude, in the lower part of the terraine, which is about 290 m above sea level, while the highest point of the municipality is 700 m above sea level, on the southern slopes of the Puig d'en Cama, a hill that dominates the landscape of the area and whose apex at 717 m above sea level is located in the neighboring municipality of La Selva del Campo. Its climate is dry Mediterranean, with low rainfall in the summer and occasionally heavy rainfall in spring and autumn. The driest month is July, with an average rainfall of only 15 mm, and September is usually the wettest, with an average of about 75 mm. The average annual precipitation barely reaches 500 mm. The most mountainous part of the township has a continental Mediterranean climate and more rain as there is a small thermal contrast with the more southerly and lower elevation. The average temperature of the warmest month, August, is about 24 º and the coldest month, January, is about -2 to 0⁰.

History

In 1164, in the record population of La Selva del Campo the town of Mosterio mentioned. In 1204 loco vocato Mosterium was mentioned while the toponym Almoster does not appear in any document before 1582. It is believed that the origin of the name is the Arabic term Munastir which means "border convent." During the Middle Ages the town was walled but nothing remains of these walls. It had an important Jewish colony. From 1547 it was part of the Commune of Campo bringing together various municipalities of Campo de Tarragona. The municipality was positioned in favor of the Archduke Charles in 1710. The Carrasclet guerrilla group acted with force in the area, assaulting and killing numerous Castilian troops. In 1854 the municipality was expanded with land formerly owned by Albiol. In 1850 the council was joined with that of Reus, an agreement which was never formalized.

Symbols

In early 2009, the shield of the municipality was not yet standardized and formalized by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Traditionally it used, oval and red stamp showing an inscription and a gold cross and a confusing picture at the bottom.

Culture

The parish church is dedicated to San Miguel and was built in 1704 in a simple style. There are hardly any traces of the original ornamentation as it was destroyed in 1936. One of the objects that were lost was the altar dedicated to St. Peter, the work of sculptor Balthasar Bonifaç. Only baroque relief dedicated to San Isidro was preserved. The town still has several houses with keystones. The one at Cal Llombart has Renaissance style balconies while those at Cal Victor resemble a farmhouse. Almoster celebrates its main festival on 30 July, the day of Saints Abdon and Senen. The second festival takes place on 29 September, the day of San Miguel. The first Sunday in December is the Festa de l'oli (feast of oil), with tasting of the first pressing of the excellent oil from the area of the designation of origin "Siurana".

Economy

The main economic activity of the municipality is agriculture. The main crops are hazel, olive and carob trees.

References

External links

Government data pages
{{Municipalities in Tarragona, state=autocollapse Municipalities in Baix Camp Populated places in Baix Camp