List of castles in Spain


The castles in Spain were built mainly for the country's defense, particularly with respect to fortification. During the Middle Ages, northern Christian kingdoms had to secure their borders with their Muslim southern neighbours, thus forcing both Christian and Muslim kings to grant border fiefs to their liege noblemen so as to keep and maintain defensive fortresses. When the Reconquista advanced, those border castles lost their initial purpose, and, as in the rest of medieval Europe, they were used as noble residences and fief-keeps. However, due to sporadic threats of war, they kept their military purposes, for enemy invasions were common. In some locations, such as the Basque country, fiefdoms did not exist as such, and noble families could not afford nor did they need huge fortresses, giving rise to many tower houses. In Muslim Spain many castle-palaces were built: the petty taifa kingdoms that arose after the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba were militarily weak but culturally rich, and every emir or king liked magnificent palaces, of which the Alhambra of Granada is an example. During the late Middle Ages, Christian kingdoms had secured and enriched themselves well enough to support a more courtly lifestyle, so more residential castles were built, such as the Alcázar of Segovia, which was used as the main residence of the kings of Castile, whereas the Castle of Olite, built in a luxurious gothic style, was the seat of the Kingdom of Navarre's royal court.
After the Conquest of Granada in 1492, the Catholic monarchs ordered all the castles in their realms to be handed over to the Crown. Although the order was not completely carried out, the War of the Germanias, a rebellion against king Charles V in the early 16th century, forced the new Spanish Habsburg dynasty to continue the process, and many castles were demolished as well. Most of castles in Spain were successively abandoned and dismantled, Spanish kings fearing noble and peasant revolts, especially in the newly conquered lands. Accordingly, most of them are nowadays in a state of decay, and although some restoration work has been done, the number of former castles is so large that the Spanish government lacks both the resources and the will to restore them all. There are around 2500 castles in Spain corresponding only to this kind of fortification.

[Andalucía]

Almería">Province of Almería">Almería

Huesca">Province of Huesca">Huesca

Araba">Álava">Araba

Ávila">Province of Ávila">Ávila

Albacete">Province of Albacete">Albacete

Barcelona">Province of Barcelona">Barcelona

Cáceres">Province of Cáceres">Cáceres

A Coruña">Province of A Coruña">A Coruña

Alicante">Province of Alicante">Alicante

In the following table, are related the various Spanish provinces, ordered according to the number of existing fortifications, both castles themselves as towers, watchtowers, bunkers, walls and castros
It attached the references to some of the relevant statements of Cultural Assets of the different Councils of Culture of the Autonomous Communities:
ProvinceTotal of fortificationsCastles and similarsTowers, watchtowers and bunkersWalls and castrosOthers
Jaén23797126141
Almería12681545414
Guadalajara19812427443
Cuenca175100303213
Cádiz1613771311
Soria1214941247
Zaragoza105829104
Barcelona10497007
Navarra956181511
Teruel9556121611
Burgos914428163
Cáceres84673113
Biscay7846563
Alicante73452071
Huesca7059461
Toledo70467125
Lleida68521060
Madrid673018154
Valencia633711132
Badajoz62482111
Murcia5843771
Castellón583011143
Albacete52346111
Valladolid50352121
Tarragona4846110
La Rioja48271182
León47307100
Álava4563180
Salamanca41247100
Ciudad Real3627441
Girona35222101
Segovia32155102
Ávila2921161
Balearic Islands28121510
Cantabria2881460
Lugo2625010
Palencia2518430
Zamora2513192
Asturias2471070
Santa Cruz de Tenerife2410810
Ourense1815021
A Coruña1414000
Las Palmas128310
Ceuta112621
Pontevedra109100
Melilla95040
Gipuzkoa53110