Muslims built the Onda Castle in the 10th century. During the struggle for its control, el Cid Campeador himself once conquered it, but then lost it in favour of the Almoravids in the 12th century. Precisely in 1238, Zayan, the last Moorish king of Valencia, paid Onda to Catalan-Aragonese King Jaume I 'the Conqueror'. From this time on Onda and its Castle went into Christian hands.
After the Christian conquest, town and castle remained under military orders of the Knights Templar, the Hospital and the Montesa. In the early 14th century the city-fortress had yet to be such an impressive view to be referred to, in a metaphorical sense, as the Three Hundred Towers Castle.
Due to its privileged location, the castle witnessed several military conflicts such as the War of the Castilian Succesion in the 14th century; the Revolt of the Brotherhoods; or the War of the Spanish Succession in the 18th century, in which it remained loyal to the Bourbon cause. In 1812, also Napoleon's troops occupied it.
In 1840, after the Carlist Wars, the fortress was rebuilt. However, during the Civil War of 1936, the castle also took part in several confrontations between the two sides.
Between 1920 and 1948, it was used as a Cologne School by the Carmelite Fathers, the school buildings and the Church were erected on the site of ancient structures.
Architecture
The city-fortress was composed of two spaces. On the one hand, the civil city or fortified medina at the first line of wall and, on the other, the castle or political-military city.The castle is divided into two different areas: the first would be the albacara or square (second line of wall), and in turn divided into two parts: the albacara or inner square and the external square. The second area located inside the fortress is the Alcazaba, the official residence of the sultan or governor, situated in the upper part of the Castle, forming the third line of wall.
The building located at the entrance of the castle is the front desk or reception area for visitors. It was erected by the Carmelite friars in the early 20th century and worked as a colony school between 1920 and 1950 –only interrupted its functions during the Spanish Civil War.
For the construction of the building, Carmelite friars took the already existing main cistern of the Arabic castle structure, which supplied water to the inhabitants of the fortress.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).