Ardales Castle, Ardales, Spain

Castillo de la Peña was originally a prehistorical settlement, an Iberian fortified village and, very probably, the location of a Roman temple. The current fortification is located here because Omar ben Harfsun conquered the Peña, where originally a representative of the Cordoba state was settled (al-Tayubi) in the year 883 AD.

Omar, the leader of the Mozarabic riot in the mountain ranges of Malaga, fortified the Sajrat Farda Fardaris. He enclosed the natural perimeter with walls and towers and built on the top a square fortress.

The Peña de Ardales Castle is a clear landmark in the area and remains in time since the Middle Ages. From the castle and from the Turón Castle, which has been reinforced, the Castilian attacks were repelled in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. La Peña was definately conquered by the troops lead by King Juan II and established themselves in Teba Castle in 1453.

Now, the Peña de Ardales Castle stores architectural remains from the walls, from the door of Justice and from the fortress. The fortress was bakly damaged because it was destroyed during the War of Independence.

References:

Andalucia Rustica

User Reviews

Dirk Nebelsiek (2 years ago)
There is no such castle, it is a ruin, on top of that the access door is always closed, without any information and nobody from the town knows anything about the castle or the schedules or anything. Illuminated at night it looks good because it seems that there is something on top, but they could restore it and leave the environment a little cleaner. A pity because the town is quite good.

Łukasz sRg (3 years ago)
Unfortunately closed. However, the views from the hill on Ardales and the surrounding area are breathtaking.

Jesús García Jiménez (3 years ago)
Well, we went to visit it, but it turned out that it was closed, despite having gone during opening hours and days. Asking a man who was there, he told us that they were doing maintenance work on the castle, and that is why the site was closed. What I do not understand is that nothing is said, or a sad poster is put up, that it is not even put on the internet, because if we had known, we obviously would have saved ourselves the trip, since we went expressly to visit the castle. Anyway...

Jose Perez Roldan (4 years ago)
A beautiful town

Artis Jurciņš (4 years ago)
Super beautiful place at the top of a hill, very narrow and steep road. Motorcyclists will love it.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright discopalace

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Sigmaringen Castle

Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.

The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.

These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.

Ardales Castle

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