Castillo del Real: A Muslim-Period Fortress in Valencia, Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Crown of Aragon
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Castillo del Real is a Muslim-period fortress in Spain, built to defend northern Valencia against attacks from Aragon. Also known as Castillo del Real de Vilaragut, Castillo de Marines, and Castillo de Olocau, it stands between the municipalities of Marines and Olocau in the Camp de Turia region. The fortress appears in the eleventh-century historical compilation of Ibn Idari and in the Historia Roderici, a medieval Latin biography of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid. The Crónica General of 1344 also refers to the same events and names a castle of Olocau.
From Muslim rule to the Christian conquest
The fortress retained its importance into the thirteenth century and was among the last strongholds to surrender during the reconquest led by James I of Aragon. James I was the king whose conquests expanded Christian rule into Valencia and Mallorca. After the surrender, Castillo del Real passed under Christian control. The Llibre del Repartiment, the record of land and property distributions made after the Christian conquest in the Crown of Aragon, and a document issued by James I in 1250 both call it Castillo de Olocau.
The lords of Olocau
On 3 February 1286, Ramón Escorna, the first Lord of Olocau, received the castle’s fief from Alfonso III of Aragon, James I’s successor. He was authorized to rebuild the fortress in 1287. In the early fourteenth century, the lordship belonged to Joan Escorna, who sold the castle and barony of Olocau to Mateu Mercer on 29 October 1359.
The lordship later passed to the Vilaragut family. Violante de Vilaragut received the lordships of the castle and valley of Olocau as part of her dowry when she married the nobleman Luis Boil, a settlement her brothers violently opposed in 1475. After prolonged family conflicts, the county passed to the Fenollet family in 1649 through the marriage of Margarita de Vilaragut y Sanz, daughter of the Count of Olocau, to Diego de Fenollet y Albiñana. Since the Fenollet family had no direct descendants, ownership passed in 1871 to Maria del Carmen Crespí de Valldaura y Caro, and it has remained with her descendants since then.
Castillo del Real was designated a cultural asset of interest on 7 December 2001 under reference RI-51-0010690.
Remains
Mountain setting and outer enclosure
The castle stands on a mountain at approximately 574 metres above sea level. Most of the complex, including the principal enclosure, lies within Marines, while the southern wall and one cistern lie within Olocau. The fortification follows an irregular perimeter adapted to the terrain and is formed by two enclosures. The larger outer enclosure survives mainly at its base, preserving part of a quadrangular plan and a cistern.
Inner enclosure
The inner enclosure occupies a rocky prominence and has a trapezoidal plan. Its surviving principal rooms are arranged in three spaces at different levels. The lowest space is covered by rubble. The middle space is also largely buried, although very low wall remains can be seen. A broad corridor connected this middle area with the fortress entrance.
Water systems
The middle space contains a rectangular niche 1.98 metres long and 1 metre deep. It has a half-barrel vault, a continuous semicircular vault, built from reddish sandstone known as rodeno and lime. Attached to a cistern, the niche has a blocked opening that appears to have connected with the tank. Its arrangement suggests that it served as an overflow outlet, helping collect water.
Part of the skylight of a second cistern opens in the highest area of the inner enclosure. Its half-barrel vault retains a stucco coating and impressions left by the reeds used to support the vault during construction. Rodeno stone and lime were used throughout the water structures and other buildings.
Tower and upper structures
The highest space is preceded by a quadrangular courtyard reached through a bent passage made of stucco. The tower has a rectangular plan measuring 8 by 6 metres, walls approximately 88 centimetres thick, and a half-barrel vault 6.23 metres long. Built on a base of lime and rodeno stone, it is entered through a doorway whose upper section is badly deteriorated. Inside, the remains of a double-flight staircase lead toward the first floor. Fragmentary sections of the first-floor walls and the beginning of its covering vault survive, suggesting a terrace or upper floor.
Two subterranean rooms are attached to the tower’s northern wall and are almost completely covered by rubble from collapsed sections of their vaults. Three small windows provided interior lighting, each framed by three rodeno slabs forming its lintel. A large opening was also set in the wall opposite the tower entrance. Rodeno stone combined with lime formed a solid mass throughout the walls, while rammed earth, made by compacting earth-based material within formwork, was the most widely used building technique.
