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Castle of Alhambra

Alhambra, Campo de Montiel, Ciudad Real

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 1 Food and drink

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Castle of Alhambra

Monument · Alhambra, Campo de Montiel, Ciudad Real

The Castillo de Alhambra, possibly of Umayyad origin although the surviving remains date from the 13th century onward, stands south of the village of the same name, on a bare, cone-shaped hill just over 800 metres above sea level. After the conquest of Toledo, Alfonso VII took it in the mid-12th century; lost after the Battle of Alarcos in 1195, it was recovered in 1212 by Alfonso VIII, who in 1214 handed the fortress over to the Order of Santiago. Its current polygonal layout, oval-shaped and adapted to the relief of the hill, with fourteen sides and a perimeter of about 100 metres, is attributed to Count Álvaro Núñez de Lara. Despite its ruined state, all its walls remain standing, almost two metres thick. It is listed on Hispania Nostra's Red List of Heritage at Risk.

Photo: Miguel Angel Masegosa Martínez (CC BY 2.0)

What to see and do in Alhambra