- Type
- Castle
- Built
- 9th century
- Coordinates
- 36.8070°, -5.5656°
History
The fortress on Mount Pajarete, a hill already inhabited in antiquity, was built in the 9th century by Umar ibn Hafsun, leader of a revolt against the emirs of Córdoba, to protect the town of Iptuci in the district of Ronda. In the 13th century Ferdinand III of Castile took it and rebuilt it, but in the early 14th century it fell back into Muslim hands, and Castile finally recovered it in 1341 under Alfonso XI. Standing on the frontier with the Emirate of Granada, it was besieged again in 1408 and 1445. Ownership of the castle and its lands later became the subject of a court case that dragged on for 270 years. The ruin was declared a national monument in 1949, yet its neglected walls kept crumbling, and in 2013 heavy rain brought down a large part of the tower.
What to see
The castle stands on a private estate, so the interior is not normally accessible, but you can walk up to the ruins, which look out over Villamartín and Prado del Rey. Sections of the outer circuit of walls, more than 500 metres long, survive together with towers and the Puerta del Sol and Puerta de los Carros gates. Most prominent is the keep, whose missing parts the architect Carlos Quevedo filled in with smooth, pale volumes of lime render that stand clearly apart from the medieval stone.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q5757432
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