Castell d’Alaró: A Medieval Rock Fortress in Mallorca
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Iron Age, Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Umayyad
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page13 sections
History
Castell d’Alaró is a ruined mountain fortress in Spain, above the town of Alaró on Mallorca, whose defensive history is recorded from 902 and whose surviving Gothic elements date from the fourteenth century. Built and adapted during successive periods of occupation, it is one of Mallorca’s three rock castles, fortresses that use a prominent rocky summit and steep natural slopes as part of their defense.
Early occupation and Muslim rule
The mountain contains remains associated with the Talayotic culture, the prehistoric culture of the Balearic Islands known for large stone monuments and fortified settlements. A fortification is believed to have existed during Roman rule, while archaeological remains also point to a Byzantine presence. The Byzantine Empire was the eastern Roman Empire, whose influence extended across parts of the western Mediterranean.
Defensive construction at the site is historically documented from 902, during the Muslim conquest of Mallorca. The Arabic chronicle Kitab Tarih Mayurqa calls the fortress Hisn Alarun and describes its inhabitants as Rum, a term that may have referred to people of Byzantine or Christian origin. They surrendered only after their provisions were exhausted, and the defenders are described as having resisted for more than eight years.
Christian conquest and dynastic conflict
James I of Aragon conquered Mallorca for the Crown of Aragon in the thirteenth century. After he captured Madina Mayurqa, the island’s principal Muslim city, in 1229, Muslim groups withdrew into the mountains. By 1231, Muslim communities remained around the rock castles of Alaró, Santueri, and Castell del Rei. The refugees at Alaró eventually departed, apparently through a negotiated arrangement.
After the Christian conquest, forces arriving from the Iberian Peninsula successively occupied the fortress. James I reserved Alaró when he exchanged Mallorca for the County of Urgell with Peter of Portugal. James II later ruled Mallorca as an independent king, and the castle became involved in the conflicts through which Aragonese rulers sought to restore or enforce control over the island.
In 1285, Alaró remained loyal to James II of Mallorca during Alfonso III of Aragon’s campaign to restore Mallorca to the Crown of Aragon. Mallorcan tradition remembers the defenders Guillem Cabrit and Guillem Bassa as military captains who organized the resistance, were captured after the fortress capitulated, and were burned in an event traditionally dated to January 1286. The story says that their mocking wordplay on Alfonso’s name provoked the sentence. It also relates that the execution led to the king’s excommunication and encouraged devotion to the two men as martyrs.
In 1343, the occupants surrendered to the forces of Peter IV of Aragon after threatening edicts had been issued. Peter IV also campaigned against James III of Mallorca in 1349 and is associated with a siege of Alaró. The fortress gradually declined during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, although a military garrison remained until 1741.
Religious use and modern preservation
During the plague of 1564, the buildings served as a quarantine hospital. After the garrison departed, the complex lost its military importance and retained primarily a religious function. An oratory dedicated to the Virgin of Refuge existed by at least 1622, when the present hermitage was built. A chapel and sacristy were added later.
The hermitage also preserved the memory of Guillem Cabrit and Guillem Bassa. Two painted panels depicting the two martyrs were found in its oratory in 2010. They belonged to the former island cult associated with the pair. In 1629, the Mallorcan painter Miquel Bestard made a painting of Cabrit and Bassa with Alaró Castle and Alcadena peak in the background. The work belongs to Palma City Council.
Castell d’Alaró has been protected in Spain as an Asset of Cultural Interest since 3 June 1931. This designation recognizes places of historical, artistic, archaeological, architectural, or cultural value. Ownership is divided among several bodies: the Diocese of Mallorca owns the hermitage, guesthouse, and associated spaces; Alaró Town Council owns the access route; the walls belong to the Government of Spain; and the remaining property is privately owned.
The Castell d’Alaró Foundation brings together the Diocese of Mallorca, Alaró Town Council, and the Island Council of Mallorca. Its purposes include rehabilitating, conserving, and maintaining the castle and its access route, managing the facilities, and promoting cultural, artistic, educational, and scientific activities connected with the site. Religious traditions continue at the castle through the Pancaritat, a Mallorcan communal pilgrimage held on the Sunday after Easter, and a pilgrimage on 8 September for the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
Local tradition has also attached legends to the mountain. Stories tell of witches who lived on nearby Alcadena and supposedly stretched threads across the castle walls at night. Another tale concerns a local man named Fonoll, who was pushed from the cliff of s’Orengar while attempting to win a wager. The place is consequently known as Salt d’en Fonoll. A round mark before the outer gate is traditionally identified as the hoofprint of James I’s horse.
Remains
Castell d’Alaró occupies the summit of Puig del Castell d’Alaró at approximately 822 to 825 metres above sea level, about three kilometres north of Alaró. The plateau can be reached by a path from the south, while steep, almost impassable cliffs protect the other sides. The surviving fortress is organized around a curtain wall and five towers, with stone construction and Gothic architectural remains dating from the fourteenth century.
Fortifications and defensive structures
Outer entrance
The outer entrance passes through a gate in the forewall. Its semicircular arch once supported a double-leaf door. Several steps lead to a second entrance, which is protected by a stone wall containing three loopholes, narrow openings through which weapons could be used while limiting defenders’ exposure. This entrance was also associated with a defensive tower and machicolations, projecting structures with openings through which missiles or other materials could be dropped.
Keep and central defenses
The centrally placed first major tower is the crenellated keep, popularly called the Constipador. It served as the lord’s residence. Nearby, a level area beside the walls contains the remains of a cistern and part of a crenellated wall. Beyond this area stands the defensive Migjorn Tower, also described as the western tower. Its substantial masonry includes loopholes.
Prison of the Moors
On the southern side, the building known as the Prison of the Moors, or Tower of the Cave, is a square-plan structure crowned by a tower with loopholes. It watched over this part of the fortress. Its principal wall is oriented toward Mecca. The building stands near a cave and above the Cave of Saint Anthony, which is associated with hermitic occupation during the seventeenth century.
Water and industrial installations
Several cisterns supplied the fortress, including five identified within the interior. Some may have been built during the Arab period. Cut into the rock, they collected rainwater, while one may also have been used periodically as an ice house. Other surviving installations include areas for burning charcoal and lime kilns, linking the physical remains to the practical needs of the settlement and its construction work.
Hermitage and associated buildings
Exterior of the hermitage
The hermitage of the Virgin of Refuge is a small, austere building. Its main portal is made from carved marés sandstone, a locally characteristic Mallorcan stone, arranged in a Renaissance-style architraved composition. A porch with a double-pitched Arab-tile roof stands before the entrance. It is supported by a semicircular arch and octagonal pilasters, with two wooden supports holding the roof within the porch.
Above the entrance is a south-facing sundial made from a single piece of limestone. Its gnomon indicates the hours with Arabic numerals and points toward the Pole Star. Its construction date is unknown, although photographs show that it existed during the first half of the twentieth century.
Interior and devotional features
Inside, the hermitage consists of a single room covered by a barrel vault, a continuous semicircular ceiling. The floor is ceramic, and the walls are decorated with raised vegetal motifs. A semicircular apse, the curved end of the chapel, contains the altar. In front of it stands a Baroque altarpiece bearing an image of the Virgin Mary, with representations of Guillem Cabrit and Guillem Bassa on either side.
The complex also includes a guesthouse and spaces associated with the hermitage. Together with the chapel, the fortress walls, towers, cisterns, and industrial installations, these buildings preserve the successive military and religious functions of the summit.
