Castillo de Bacares: A Medieval Defensive Fortress in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Almohad, Nasrid
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
Castillo de Bacares is a medieval fortress in Spain, built mainly in the thirteenth century as part of the defensive network established in the Sierra de los Filabres during a period of insecurity.
Origins and medieval use
Some sections of the fortress may date from the eleventh century, based on the use of rammed earth in parts of the structure. Most of the castle, however, was constructed in the thirteenth century. Its main building phase may belong to the transition from Almohad rule to the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. The Almohads were a North African Islamic dynasty that controlled parts of the Iberian Peninsula before the Nasrids established their kingdom. The Nasrids ruled Granada from the thirteenth century until the Christian conquest in 1492.
Castillo de Bacares remained in use during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Abandonment probably began in the sixteenth century, after the period in which the fortress served within the region’s network of defensive positions.
Protection and conservation
The remains are protected under the general declaration established by the Decree of 22 April 1949 and under Spain’s Historical Heritage Law 16/1985. The monument’s formal declaration was published in the Official State Gazette on 29 June 1985.
By 2008, the fortress and its associated buildings were in very poor condition and threatened with disappearance. An intervention carried out in 2008 and 2009 addressed rammed-earth walls with large cavities, masonry that had lost its mortar, and adjoining buildings with unstable walls, decayed or collapsed roofs, and deteriorated finishes and carpentry.
Remains
Fortress layout and construction
The castle stands on a small hill at one end of Bacares’s built-up area, between the settlement’s two principal neighborhoods. It faces the valley that forms the town’s natural approach. The surviving fortress is a small rectangular enclosure with five square towers and a larger rectangular tower divided into compartments. This arrangement, consisting of a substantial main tower enclosed by walls with towers at the corners, follows the calahorra model, a fortified tower or compact castle type that spread through the area during the thirteenth century.
Seven rooms were arranged around a small parade courtyard. Their foundations and portions of their interior walls survive. A cistern remains along one side of the enclosure, providing evidence of the practical facilities incorporated into the fortress. The lower walls consist of rubble masonry laid in level courses and bonded with mortar, while the upper sections were built in rammed earth.
Adjoining buildings
Buildings connected to the castle formed part of the wider complex. Their walls, roofs, finishes, and carpentry were among the elements addressed during the 2008 and 2009 intervention, which responded to their ruinous and unstable condition.
