Castle of Zafra

The Castle of Zafra (Spanish: Castillo de Zafra) is a 12th-century castle in the municipality of Campillo de Dueñas, in Guadalajara, Spain. Built in the late 12th or early 13th century on a sandstone outcrop in the Sierra de Caldereros, it stands on the site of a former Visigothic and Moorish fortification that fell into Christian hands in 1129. It had considerable strategic importance as a virtually impregnable defensive work on the border between Christian and Muslim-ruled territory.

The castle was never conquered and was successfully defended against the King of Castile in the 13th century. The completion of the Reconquista at the end of the 15th century ended its military significance. Although it fell into ruin in the following centuries, since 1971 it has progressively been restored by its private owners. It can be visited with permission from the owners.

Text adapted from “Castle of Zafra (Guadalajara)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castle of Zafra ranks #2,040 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #74 of the 600 mapped in Spain. Founded c. 1150, it is older than 82% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,678 times in the last 60 days, more than 62% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.

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