Castell de la Suda

The Castle of La Suda, also known as the Castell del Rei [King's Castle], is a large ruined fortress-palace overlooking the city of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. The currently visible Romanesque-Gothic complex, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was used as a royal palace, was built over a 9th-century kasbah andalusí. By the main entrance to the fortified complex, the Puerta del León [Lion's Gate], are the remains of the Roman wall dating to before 26-16 BC. Successive walls were built over and along it in the 9th to 10th centuries, the 14th century and in the 19th century.

The Court session held there in 1214 is notable for being the occasion on which James I of Aragon, then aged six, was recognised by the Catalans and the Aragonese and crowned King of Aragon. The signing of the Querimonia, by which James II of Aragon granted autonomy to the Aran Valley in 1313, and the Paréages of Andorra (1278 and 1288), which codified the joint sovereignty over the territory of Andorra, also took place at the palace.

The fortress was used as a military headquarters during the Reapers' War and remained as such until it was demilitarised in 1941. During the War of the Spanish Succession, an explosion in the arsenal destroyed most of the original castle. Although the castle-palace was declared a national monument in 1931, it continued to be used as a military facility until its demilitarisation.

Text adapted from “Castle of La Suda” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castell de la Suda ranks #214 of 6,412 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #54 of the 433 mapped in Spain. Founded 26 BC, it is older than 99% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 5 atlas entries founded in the 1st century BC. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗