Spain · 11th century
Salvatierra Castle is a fortification near Calzada de Calatrava in the south of the province of Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. It is located on a small hillock at the foot of the volcanic Mount Atalaya, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Calzada de Calatrava.
Originally an Islamic building tentatively dating back to the 11th or 12th centuries, the castle passed to Christian control in the second half of the 12th century, returning to Muslim hands in 1195, to be soon conquered in 1197 by knights of the Order of Calatrava, who strengthened its defences. It was seized by Almohads in 1211, a year before the Battle of Las Navas. Christians passed over the place during the aforementioned campaign after taking the nearby castle of Calatrava, eventually deciding not to siege Salvatierra, but to directly go to find the Almohad Caliph instead. It was taken again by Christians circa 1225–26.
Text adapted from “Salvatierra Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Salvatierra Castle ranks #3,955 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #159 of the 606 mapped in Spain. Founded c. 1050, it is older than 89% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 439 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,188 times in the last 60 days, more than 55% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.
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