Spain · 9th century
Alcazaba and Castle of Tudela ranks #7,644 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #407 of the 606 mapped in Spain. Founded c. 850, it is older than 94% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 85 atlas entries founded in the 9th century. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.
The castle of Tudela (Navarre), a former Muslim alcazaba, was one of the most important in the Kingdom of Navarre. Unfortunately, only some archaeological vestiges have come down to our day. It was built in the 9th century and remodelled several times after the reconquest at the beginning of the 12th century. It stood on the hill of Santa Bárbara, where the Monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus stands today, in a highly strategic position, since it dominated the crossing of the Ebro, which for a long time was the frontier between two civilisations: the Muslim and the Christian.
During Arab rule it belonged to the Banu Qasi, who made Tudela the capital of their states. In the taifa period it belonged to the Tujibids (Taifa of Zaragoza), and later to an independent taifa (Taifa of Tudela), until the Christian conquest of 1119 by Alfonso I the Battler, becoming part of the Navarrese-Aragonese Crown. Under García Ramírez the Restorer, Tudela and its castle were definitively incorporated into the Kingdom of Navarre.
Machine-translated from “Alcazaba y Castillo de Tudela” on the Spanish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
View on the interactive castle map →