Spain · 11th century
The castle of Almenara, in the province of Castellón, is a 10th-century Muslim fortress, built over Roman remains, located on a hill that dominates the urban centre of the town to which it gives its name.
The toponym Al-manara, lighthouse or watchtower, indicates the possible function of this strategic site on the border between the taifa states of Valencia and Tortosa. From the castle the coastal passage between Castellón and Valencia was controlled, as well as the inland route that linked with Aragon.
Although remains of Roman and Iberian constructions have been found on the northern slope, indicating a very early origin for the fortification, the oldest written sources date this castle to the 11th century, in the last phase of the taifa of Tortosa, to which it would have belonged. In 1238 it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Aragon when it was conquered by King James I, in whose chronicle, the Llibre dels feits, the most complete description of the fortification appears.
Machine-translated from “Castillo de Almenara” on the Spanish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Almenara Castle ranks #7,684 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #409 of the 607 mapped in Spain. Founded c. 1050, it is older than 89% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 436 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. 12 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Castellón de la Plana, 30 km away. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.
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