Burgos Castle

The Castle of Burgos is located on the hill of San Miguel to 75 m above the city of Burgos. According to excavations the castle attributes to the Visigoths, and its oldest parts, to the Romans. It is believed that the fortress was already built back in 865 when Muslims amounted to the Castilian plateau led by Al-Mondzir obliterating. Twenty years later the Asturian monarch Alfonso III gives order to Count Diego Rodríguez Porcelos to repopulate and re-fortifying Burgos because had credited his military virtues in the Battle of Briviesca and in defend Pancorbo.

The growing importance of the city requires a great fortress, whose perimeter is well documented. Probably during the reign of Alfonso VIII of Castile occurs the first great transformation, participating experts builders to the Mudéjar taste of the time. The Castilian king Henry IV makes the second reform, mainly for beautification, in order to transform it into palace: halls, chambers and chapel.

During the Early Modern Age and because both the evolution of military techniques, as the remoteness of the war zones, loses its former defensive function. In its enclosure was settled the first training school for gunners that have been in Spain, reaching produce twenty quintals of gunpowder daily in 1542. This was about secondary activities.

During the French occupation, the June 15, 1813, the French army decided to leave the Castle of Burgos, and they destroyed it with explosives. The explosion resulted in the almost total destruction of all the castle grounds. The remains of the fortress, in state of ruins, has allowed its qualification as a museum, opened in 2003, or interpretation center, and it can also visit the well and the underground tunnels, known as Cueva del Moro.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Burgos, Spain

Details

Founded: c. 865 AD
Category: Castles and fortifications in Spain